* Mumbai "still not under control" - state government * Prime Minister Singh says attacks plotted overseas * Police say 119 people killed, 315 wounded By Charlotte Cooper MUMBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Indian commandos fought to regain control of buildings in India's commercial capital, Mumbai, on Thursday after coordinated attacks by armed militants blamed by the prime minister on a "terrorist" group outside the country. Police said 119 people had been killed and 315 wounded when a small army of gunmen -- at least some of whom arrived by sea -- fanned out across Mumbai to attack sites popular with tourists and businessmen, including two luxury hotels. The Israeli embassy in New Delhi said at least 10 Israeli nationals were still trapped in buildings or held hostage more than 24 hours after the assault had begun. Commandos were fighting room-to-room battles in the two hotels to rescue people trapped by the gunmen, police said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed militant groups based in India's neighbours, usually meaning Pakistan, raising fears of renewed tension between the nuclear-armed rivals. "It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with single-minded determination to create havoc in the commercial capital of the country," he said in a televised address. "We will take the strongest possible measures to ensure that there is no repetition of such terrorist acts." Around two dozen militants in their early 20s, armed with automatic rifles and grenades and carrying backpacks full of ammunition, had spread out across the city to attack sites which also included a Jewish centre. At least some of them had come ashore in what police said was a rubber dinghy. They commandeered a vehicle and sprayed passers-by with bullets, fired indiscriminately in a train station, hospitals and a popular tourist cafe. They also attacked two of the city's poshest hotels packed with tourists and business executives. "The situation is still not under control and we are trying to flush out any more terrorists hiding inside the two hotels," said Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra state which is home to Mumbai. STRAIN ON PAKISTAN TIES? The death toll was only an estimate in an attack which brought the biggest chaos to the city since serial bombings in 1993 killed 260 people and injured hundreds. India blamed crime syndicates in the "Bollywood" underworld for that attack and saw it as revenge for the death of Muslims in Hindu-Muslim violence. It said the perpetrators had later found refuge in Pakistan. Pakistan condemned the latest attacks on Mumbai and promised full cooperation. The use of heavily armed "fedayeen" -- attackers who are willing to fight to the death but not necessarily suicide bombers -- bore the hallmarks of Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both groups made their name fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, and were closely linked in the past to the Pakistani military's Inter Services Intelligence agency, the ISI. They were also blamed for an attack on India's parliament in 2001 which brought the two countries close to a fourth war. WALKING PAST DEAD BODIES J K. Dutt, head of the National Security Guards, told the NDTV news channel that operations were continuing at the hotels. At the Trident-Oberoi "we have been able to engage two terrorists," he said. "At the Taj, one terrorist has been engaged. He has been injured, and we should be able to mop up the operation fairly quickly." Flames billowed from an upper floor of the Trident-Oberoi where 20 to 30 people were thought to have been taken hostage and more than 100 others were trapped in their rooms. Earlier, explosions rattled the nearby Taj Hotel as the troops flushed out the last of the militants there. Fire and smoke plumed from an open window. Dipak Dutta told NDTV news after being rescued that he had been told by troops escorting him through the corridors not to look down at any of the bodies. "A lot of chef trainees were massacred in the kitchen." At least six foreigners, including one Australian, a Briton, an Italian and a Japanese national were killed. A militant holed up at a Jewish centre phoned an Indian television channel to offer talks with the government for the hostages' release. He complained of abuses in Kashmir, over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars. BAREFOOT THROUGH BLOOD Australian actress Brooke Satchwell, who starred in the Neighbours television soap opera, said she narrowly escaped the gunmen by hiding in a hotel bathroom cupboard. "There was someone dead outside the bathroom," she told Australian television. "The next thing I knew I was running down the stairs and there were a couple of dead bodies across the stairs. It was chaos." "We threw ourselves down under the reception counter," Esperanza Aguirre, head of Madrid's regional government, said. "I took off my shoes and we left being pushed along by the hotel staff," she said. "I didn't see any terrorists or injured people. I just saw the blood I had to walk through barefoot." Andreas Liveras, a Cypriot with British nationality who spoke to the BBC hours before the Cypriot foreign ministry said he had died said: "All we know is the bombs are next door and the hotel is shaking every time a bomb goes off." Singh said New Delhi would "take up strongly" the use of neighbours' territory to launch attacks on India. "The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of terror by choosing high-profile targets." Lashkar-e-Taiba denied any role in the attacks, and said it had no links with any Indian group. Instead, the little-known Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility. "Release all the mujahideens, and Muslims living in India should not be troubled," said a militant inside the Oberoi, speaking to Indian television by telephone. Authorities closed stock, bond and foreign exchange markets, and the central bank said it would continue auctions to keep cash flowing through interbank lending markets, which seized up after the global financial crisis. Police said they had shot seven gunmen and arrested nine suspects. They said 12 policemen were killed, including Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai. (Reporting by New Delhi and Mumbai bureaux; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
A Kashmiri protester pushes a handcart to be used as a barricade to stop Indian policemen during an anti-poll protest in Srinagar November 21, 2008. India deployed thousands of troops in ...
