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No.270 SIM音読用英文

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Indian Forces Continue Battling Militants in Mumbai
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India's financial capital saw

commerce paralyzed

and the city turned into a virtual war zone

after police were outgunned

by insurgents

who held the city hostage.


The state's chief minister acknowledged

that control had been ceded

to the military and National Security Guards,

a federal counter-terrorism group

under the Home Ministry.


Commandos stormed luxury hotels

where terrorists had taken guests hostage.


Air force helicopters flew overhead

along the shoreline.


Navy and Coast Guard vessels pursued a ship,

identified as the MV Alpha,

suspected of possibly bringing in the terrorists

from Pakistan.


As night fell, 20 hours after the initial attacks,

elite troops conducted a room-to-room search

inside the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers,

as well as the nearby Oberoi-Trident Hotel,

for hostages and terrorists.


The soldiers were joined

by firefighters

who battled intermittent blazes

at both hotels.


A previously unknown group, Deccan Mujahideen,

has claimed responsibility

for the assault on Mumbai.


One of the militants phoned an Indian television channel

and expressed outrage

over the deaths of Muslims

in the disputed Kashmir region

at the hands of the army.


News commentators here praised officials

for dispatching elite units

of Indian soldiers, sailors and airmen

to battle terrorists

in an urban environment.


Police were criticized

for a slow initial response

to the Wednesday night shootings and grenade blasts.


At one restaurant,

popular with artisans and foreign travelers,

which was sprayed with automatic gunfire,

victims say

police did not respond for 20 minutes.


The attack is the worst in India

since explosions on suburban Mumbai commuter trains

in July 2006

which killed 187 people and injured 800 others.


But this strike is far different

than the wave of bombings,

blamed on Muslim extremists

or, occasionally ultra-right wing Hindus,

which have mainly targeted working class markets.


This attack focused on locations

frequented by the elite

and the gunmen made a deliberate effort

to take hostage foreigners,

especially Americans, Britons and Israelis.


Among the reported dead,

besides Indians,

are nationals

of Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan.


Steve Herman, VOA News, New Delhi
by danueno | 2008-12-03 14:14 | SIM音読用英文


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