I saw fifty bodies in hotel, says Army chief

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Clad in black, with a mask covering his face, the commando unit chief told how bodies littered the five-star Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

The officer said the commandos fought room-to-room running battles with the gunmen.

He said: "There was blood all over the bodies. The bodies were strewn here and there and we had to be careful as we entered the building to avoid further bloodshed of innocent civilians."

He said 200 guests at the hotel were rescued at first light this morning.

Of the terrorists, he said: "They were wearing T-shirts, just ordinary looking. But they have definitely been trained to use weapons. There is no way they could handle such weapons without being taught how to."

He added that the men fired at anyone in front of them.

His account came as Indian troops launched an assault on the Jewish centre in Mumbai this morning to free more hostages.

In Operation Black Tornado, around 20 commandos were airdropped onto the roof of the Nariman House before moving into the building.

Helicopters swooped over the business and residential complex in south Mumbai, which houses the Hasidic Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch.

They initially dropped smoke bombs to create confusion, and then several troops abseiled down ropes to secure the roof.

Earlier, a woman and child were seen leaving the building but it was unclear whether they were escaping or had been released.

The child was identified as the two-year-old son of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holzberg, the main representative at the ultra-orthodox centre. There was no word on the rabbi's fate.

The operation unfolded as yet more gunfire was heard at the city's main railway station this morning.

Security forces say they are close to taking control of the second hotel, the Oberoi Trident, after freeing 93 people.

Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades targeted at least seven sites in Mumbai late on Wednesday, opening fire indiscriminately on crowds at a major railway station, the two hotels, the Jewish centre, a hospital and a café popular with foreigners.