JUDY WOODRUFF: A standoff in the financial capital of India left at least 119 people dead today. The string of coordinated raids broke out yesterday, hitting 10 targets across Mumbai, once known as Bombay. Nearly 300 people were wounded, including at least three Americans.
Today, Indian commandos stormed two luxury hotels, going room to room to hunt down gunmen and free remaining hostages.
We have a report from Juliet Bremner of Independent Television News.
JULIET BREMNER: Feet away from the gateway of India, this five-star symbol of luxury was today a battlefield.
Inside the Taj Mahal, one of the largest and most famous hotels in India, murder and chaos had shattered the opulent order and sent decades of history up in smoke.
The exact number of gunmen inside wasn't known, but terrified guests used every means possible to escape. In some cases, they were led to safety by elite Indian commandos.
Indian security forces entered the hotel, but although they claimed to have gained control, further shooting and explosions rang out.
At another five-star hotel, the Oberoi, as many as 200 guests barricaded themselves into their rooms, many on floors too high to contemplate escape.
Frantic appeals for help were posted in the windows as gunmen ran rampant, hunting down guests and taking hostages.
WITNESS: The gunmen came into the restaurant, and we were ushered or some of us were ushered into the kitchen. I think some of the others got out the back door.
And then the gunmen told us to go up the stairs, up the fire escape stairs, about 30 of us all together. So we were walking up each flight of stairs. And then he stopped us after two or three flights and told everyone to put their hands up and said, "Where are you from?" You know, "Are there any British or Americans here? Show us your I.D.," and all this.
People started getting out their business cards or I.D. cards or whatever. And my friend said, "You know, tell them you're Italian or something if they come up to you, you know." So I was there with my hands up just thinking, yes, basically I was in, you know, serious trouble.
JULIET BREMNER: With nightfall again enveloping the city, Mumbai has not yet silenced the militants.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For more, we go to New York Times reporter Somini Sengupta in Mumbai. I talked with her moments ago.
Somini Sengupta, we've just been listening to a report filed a few hours ago. Bring us up to date on what the situation is right now.
SOMINI SENGUPTA, New York Times: Well, more than 24 hours later, this standoff still isn't really over. There are gunmen and civilians trapped with the gunmen in at least two hotels, the Taj hotel and the Oberoi or Trident hotel, which is not that far away.
We don't really know how many civilians are actually being held hostage, you know, not being allowed to leave, or, you know, how many of them are simply locked up in the rooms in the hotel out of fear because they don't want to come outside.
So we really still have no idea how many armed people there are inside. We don't know how long it's going to take to get everyone out.
But certainly the police have been saying that they're close to sort of, you know, making the final push and getting everybody out, but we're still sort of -- we're still not quite there yet.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So of the 10 sites that were originally attacked, you're saying at least two of them still not stabilized?
SOMINI SENGUPTA: Exactly. At least two, possibly three not stabilized. The third site is a Jewish community center that's sort of located between these two hotels. And there's a standoff there, as well. There was some possible hostage-taking there, as well.
Very late last night, the security forces did go in, did advance into that community center, and about seven civilians came out of that building. We have not really heard from those civilians; we don't know what their ordeal was like; we don't know what it took to get them out.
I think a lot of those questions are going to be answered in the coming days.
JUDY WOODRUFF: India's prime minister has spoken of outside forces being involved. How much is known, Somini, at this point about who's behind this and why they did it?
SOMINI SENGUPTA: The group that claimed responsibility has never been heard of before. They call themselves the Deccan Mujahideen. We have no idea if that's a real group, if that's a front organization for something else. We don't know how many of them were there, and we don't know where they came from.
All we know is that the attackers seem to have been quite young men and very, very well armed, very well organized.
The prime minister did allude to the fact that they could have had outside support. This usually means, when the Indians say "outside support," they're usually referring to groups that operate in Pakistan, but, again, there's really very little that's known about who these guys are, where they came from, how long they have been in Mumbai.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Somini Sengupta joining us in the wee hours of the morning reporting from Mumbai, thank you.
SOMINI SENGUPTA: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We'll have still more on the terror attacks in India right after this news summary.
To Iraq now, where the parliament passed a long-term security deal with the U.S. today. It keeps American troops in Iraq through 2011, at which point they must completely withdraw.
The agreement won backing from a majority of the Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni Arab blocs in parliament. Now it goes to Iraq's three-member presidential council, where it's expected to pass. We'll have more on Iraq later in the program.
In Afghanistan, a suicide car bomber killed four people today. It hit just yards away from the entrance to the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Afghan officials said the bomber was targeting a convoy of foreign troops, but killed Afghan bystanders instead.
Also today, two British soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Helmand province in the south.
The government of Thailand declared a state of emergency at two airports in Bangkok today. They were seized Tuesday and Wednesday by thousands of anti- government protesters.
Today, the protesters staged a sit-in in the middle of the main international air terminal. All flights remained canceled, and thousands of tourists from around the world were left stranded.
STEPHEN TWIGG, British Tourist: I'm not going to say they're terrorists, because they're not, but they're certainly hooligans, because they're not going about their political aspirations in the right way.
LAETITIA CHANCERELLE, French Tourist (through translator): We don't know what to do. It has been two days since we've been in Bangkok without our baggage. We don't understand what's happening and how long this conflict is going to last.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The standoff began nearly three months ago, when protesters occupied the prime minister's offices, virtually paralyzing the government.
The world's oldest person has died at the age of 115 years and 220 days. Edna Parker died at her nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana, on Wednesday. Born in 1893, she taught in a two-room school until her wedding in 1913. Her husband died in 1939. Parker said she never drank or smoked, and she told people more education was a key to long life.
Americans around the world observed Thanksgiving today. The annual Macy's holiday parade drew more than a million people to the streets of New York City.
Overseas, servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan ate traditional turkey dinners.
From his retreat at Camp David, Maryland, President Bush made phone calls to troops stationed around the world.
And President-elect Obama, in an Internet address, compared this Thanksgiving to the one observed during the Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln.
BARACK OBAMA, President-elect of the United States: Lincoln said in his first Thanksgiving decree that difficult times made it even more appropriate for our blessings to be, and I quote, "gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people."
This Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people. Across the country, there were empty seats at the table, as brave Americans continue to serve in harm's way from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq. We honor and give thanks for their sacrifice.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We'll have more on Lincoln's presidency, as well as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's, and how they governed in times of war and economic stress at the end of the program tonight.
Between now and then: terror strikes in India; not enough food for the hungry; and a security agreement in Iraq.
