NEW DELHI, India – At least 60 people were killed and dozens more injured Wednesday night in seven synchronized attacks in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, police said.
    The shootings and explosions took place in the heart of the city's affluent southern section, with at least two of the incidents occurring near five-star hotels. About 10:30 p.m., witnesses told reporters, two men fired automatic weapons outside the Cafe Leopold restaurant, which is popular with foreigners, then moved toward the five-star Taj Mahal hotel while continuing to fire indiscriminately.
    The gunmen also reached the city's main Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station and a hospital.
    Witnesses said the gunmen initially asked for British and American nationals. About 10 Americans and Britons were believed to be trapped in the hotel late Wednesday.
    The 36-story five-star Oberoi hotel was evacuated, and television stations broadcast scenes of guests wheeling out their luggage. Authorities said at least two gunmen were still inside the Oberoi hotel, while the gun battle with police raged.
    It was not immediately clear who the gunmen were. Television channels reported that at least 40 police commandos in bulletproof vests had entered the Oberoi.
    "These are suspected to be some terrorist strikes. In a number of places, terrorists have opened fire; some grenades have also been used. In two hotels they are still holed up," police chief A.N. Roy told reporters. "Terrorists are holed up inside in three places, including two five-star hotels."
    Local train service was suspended, and the police cordoned off the area, which is usually packed with revelers and street food vendors late into the night.
    Two hours after the shooting began, a fire was reported in the lobby of the Oberoi, and a massive explosion was heard in a gas station in the adjoining Colaba area, killing at least 10 of the victims.
    Among those barricaded inside the Taj Mahal hotel were several European lawmakers who were visiting Mumbai before a summit meeting of European Union and Indian leaders.
    "I was in the lobby … when gunmen came in and people starting running," one of the lawmakers, Sajjad Karim, told Britain's Press Association news agency by telephone from the basement of the hotel. "A gunman just stood there spraying bullets around, right next to me. I managed to turn away, and I ran into the hotel kitchen."
    According to railway police, several men armed with rifles and grenades attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai, a UNESCO world heritage site built in the late 19th century and formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station.
    Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, has been the scene of bombings that have killed hundreds of people since 1993. In the worst attack, 257 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded in a series of 13 bomb blasts in March 1993. Indian authorities blamed Muslim militants for the attacks on the city's stock exchange, trains, hotels and gas stations. After a long-running trial, 100 people were convicted of involvement in the bombings, which authorities said were carried out to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Indian Muslims in religious riots.
    In 2003, more bombings attributed to Muslim militants killed 52 people in Mumbai.
    In July 2006, more than 200 people were reported killed in a series of blasts that ripped through railway trains and commuter rail stations in Mumbai. Police later filed charges against 28 suspects belonging to a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group called Lashkar-i-Taiba and a banned northern Indian organization called the Students Islamic Movement of India.
    Police charged that the Pakistani intelligence service was behind the bombings. Pakistan denied the accusation.