On Saturday, officials said they believed that just 10 gunmen had taken part in the attacks. The sole survivor, identified a Pakistani national, Mohammad Ajmal Qasam, was being interrogated, officials said.
The gunmen were as brazen as they were well trained, using sophisticated weapons, GPS technology and mobile and satellite phones to communicate, authorities said.
"They were constantly in touch with a foreign country," said R.R. Patil, deputy to the chief of Maharashtra state's chief, without giving further details.
"Whenever they were under a little bit of pressure they would hurl a grenade. They freely used grenades," said Dutt.
A US counterterrorism official said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.
US officials were worried about a possible surge in violence between Pakistan and India, the nuclear armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over Kashmir, and were sending FBI agents to India to help investigate.
Indian security officers believe many of the gunmen may have reached the city using a black and yellow rubber dinghy found near the attack sites.
The Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.
The trawler, named Kuber, had been found Thursday and was brought to Mumbai, a peninsula surrounded by the Arabian Sea, said Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar. Authorities suspect the boat had sailed from a port in the neighboring state of Gujarat.
The fighting narrowed to the Taj Mahal hotel on Friday night, hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish center and found at least eight hostages dead Friday.
By Saturday night the death toll was at 195, the country's deadliest attack since 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai killed 257 people. But officials said the toll from the three days of carnage was likely to rise as more bodies were brought out of the hotels.
In the southern city of Bangalore, black clad commandos formed an honor guard for the flag-draped coffin of Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel.
"He gave up his own life to save the others," said J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite commando unit.
(China Daily via agencies November 30, 2008)
