A series of bomb blasts and shootings have rocked Mumbai tonight. The attacks are centred on the city's international hotels as well as transport hubs, including the domestic and international airports. 

Two bombs have exploded at the Taj Mahal, and the army has entered both the Taj and the Oberoi. One MP is reported dead at the Taj, with two more believed to be still inside.

Hostages are being held at at least two hotels, with the terrorists said to be "looking for anyone with a British or American passport". An EU trade delegation was staying at the Taj.

Hospitals have reported receiving 80 bodies and more than 900 are believed to have been injured. MP Krishna Das, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte and the chief of the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad, Hemant Karkare, are amongst those killed, along with seven policemen.

Nine suspects have been arrested. Police earlier suggested that Fidayeen Islamic terrorists are responsible, but media have received a statement frm a previously unknown group called Deccan Mujihideen claiming responsibility. At least 24 terrorists are believed to be still at large. However, Hindu extremists are also reported to have been arrested.

The terrorists opened fire in one of Mumbai's smartest hotels - the Oberoi - at 22.45 local time, leaving seven dead and 25 injured. Navy commandos are now entering the hotel. In a bombing at the Taj Mahal hotel (pictured), MP Krishna Das and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar were killed, and 15 people, seven of them foreigners, are reported to be being held hostage there. The top floor is on fire.

Nearby, a boatload of explosives is believed to have exploded. The police have called in the army and National Security Guard for help, and the Maharashta chief minister, who is on his way to the city from Kerala, has asked New Delhi for more assistance.

There has also been an explosion at the Trident Hotel, where more hostages are being held, and two more blasts were reported at Mazgaon and BPT Colony at  00:15 hours. Terrorists are believed to have hijacked a police van, as unidentified firing from a van was witnessed, injuring one person. A VP petrol pump near the Colaba district was blown up, as was the Metro Cinema hall, with one bomb exploding inside a taxi near Vile Parle, just a kilometre away from the airport.

Mumbai General Railway Police Commissioner A K Sharma said that terrorists armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades entered the passenger hall of a crowed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal (CST) railway station and opened fire, as well as throwing a grenade which killed two or three people and injured at least 10, including a policeman. Gunfire was also reported at the nearby JJ school of architecture at 23.49 hours, and both CST and Dadar stations have been evacuated, putting  the international and domestic airports on high alert. A taxi containing explosives has been stopped on the Western Express highway, which leads to the airport. Firing has been reported in the Borivali district, and Cama Hospital - a womens' and childrens' hospital - is the scene of an ongoing attack.

According to sources, Gujurat police warned Mumbai police that as many as 50 terrorists had infiltrated the city.

Firing was reported at Colaba, Nariman House, and Café Leopold - an area which attracts a lot of foreign tourists. There are reports of  firing at the Mariott hotel in Juhu, where two terrorists were shot after a long chase and several rounds of firing, and casualties were taken to a nearby hospital. Some people were injured in the firing near the Oberoi hotel and were taken to hospital in police vans and ambulances.

Ministers have asked locals to stay put till the situation gets under control. X

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