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8:14 AM
MUMBAI -- A Canadian woman freed from a Mumbai hotel said she was "fine" and on her way to the airport after Indian commandos seized the building from armed Islamic terrorists Friday.
Alison Nankivell was among five Canadians freed from the Oberoi-Trident Hotel after it had been stormed by terrorists 36 hours earlier as part of co-ordinated and bloody attacks against several targets in India's financial capital that left as many as 140 dead, including one Canadian. The name of the dead Canadian has not been released.
Ms. Nankivell, speaking by cellphone with Canwest News Service, praised the work of Canadian officials and asked for privacy.
"I really don't have any comment. I am trying to get back to my home. Everything is fine. We all went through it," said Nankivell, who said she was on the way to the airport. "Everything is fine. We had a good experience working with the (Canadian) consulate."
Ms. Nankivell said she was originally from Toronto, with a home in Ottawa, and that she was currently posted overseas.
The prefix of her cellphone number is used in Beijing, China.
According to an August news release from Export Development Canada, an Alison Nankivell was named to the posting of senior equity manager in Beijing.
Ms. Nankivell's name was on a list of freed hostages from the Oberoi-Trident hotel given to local Indian media by authorities. Indian reporter Heena Kumawat, with television station IBN 7, read the list over the telephone to Canwest News Service.
Jennifer Dean Brooy, from eastern Ontario, was also on the list and her cellphone number had an Ottawa prefix. It rang through to voice mail.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon issued separate statements Friday morning saying that one Canadian had been killed, while five trapped in hotels had been freed. Twenty registered Canadians were known to be in Mumbai at the time of the terrorist attacks. Mr. Cannon said Friday all have been accounted for.
Commandos took control of the Trident-Oberoi hotel on Friday, some 36 hours after the evening terrorist strike on the city. Mumbai police chief Hassan Ghafoor said 24 bodies were found in the building.
But battles raged on with terrorists who were still holed up in another luxury hotel and a Jewish centre with at least half a dozen foreign hostages.
"The Oberoi Hotel and Trident are now under our control," the National Security Guards chief J.K. Dutt said. "Oberoi-Trident have been evacuated, we have killed two terrorists."
After a morning of shooting and explosions, the head of one commando unit flushing out terrorists at the five-star Taj Mahal hotel said he had seen 12 to 15 bodies in one room in the hotel.
The commandos found money, ammunition and an identity card from Mauritius that they suspected belonged to the terrorists, the commander, his face disguised by a black scarf and sunglasses, told a news conference.
One of the terrorists arrested in Mumbai was a Pakistani national, the interior minister of Maharashtra state, R.R. Patil, told reporters.
At least two Canadians were injured in the attacks. Mr. Cannon said in a statement that one of the Canadians had suffered serious injuries and was in stable condition in intensive care. The other Canadian had been released from the hospital. Consular officials visited the seriously injured Canadian and were in contact with his family, said Mr. Cannon.
Michael Rudder, of Montreal, was shot three times while in the restaurant area of Mumbai's luxury Oberoi-Trident Hotel, said Bobbie Garvey, vice-president of the Synchronicity Foundation, a U.S. based meditation group.
"He's had surgery and he's doing well," Mr. Garvey said Thursday. "He's stable -- not enough to fly home yet -- but he's stable."
Helen Connolly, a Toronto-based yoga instructor, was also grazed by a bullet in the attack, but Mr. Garvey said she was quickly released from hospital, is staying with a host family and is doing well.
The two Canadians were travelling in the area with the meditation group and were among the victims shot by terrorists in Mumbai as explosions continued to rock the embattled city Thursday.
"They went with our spiritual director on a pilgrimage to India, and wound up in the middle of this terrorist attack," said Mr. Garvey from his organization's base in Faber, Va.
Indian commandos fought room-to-room battles with the Islamic terrorists inside the two luxury hotels Thursday to save people trapped or taken hostage during the bloody siege.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned what he called "the despicable and cowardly attacks in Mumbai, India."
"The government of Canada is working closely with Indian authorities to find and assist any Canadians and their families who might be affected by these attacks," Harper said in a statement released Thursday. "Our consular staff in Ottawa and on the ground in Mumbai are working tirelessly to this end."
The Department of Foreign Affairs also issued a travel warning for Mumbai, saying Canadians should avoid non-essential travel.
A previously little-known organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen has sent an e-mail to news organizations claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the terrorists had come from "outside the country," while the military official leading the operation to flush them out, Maj.-Gen. R.K. Hooda, said they were from archrival Pakistan.
The Press Trust of India said one Pakistani man had been detained, although Pakistan's government fiercely denied any involvement.
Three of the terrorists have confessed they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, an Indian newspaper reported.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest Islamist terror groups in South Asia, denied on Thursday that it had any role in the attacks.
One of the terrorists was a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province, the Hindu said, citing unidentified police investigators.
"Based on the interrogation of the suspects, the investigators believe that one or more groups of Lashkar operatives left Karachi in a merchant ship early on Wednesday," the newspaper said.
It said the group came ashore at Mumbai on a small boat and then split up into small teams to attack multiple locations.
The Mumbai attacks bear some hallmarks of al-Qaida but it is too early to say if the network was behind the deadly assaults, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday.
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is a major metropolitan centre on the west coast of India near the Arabian Sea.
Source: nationalpost.com
Alison Nankivell was among five Canadians freed from the Oberoi-Trident Hotel after it had been stormed by terrorists 36 hours earlier as part of co-ordinated and bloody attacks against several targets in India's financial capital that left as many as 140 dead, including one Canadian. The name of the dead Canadian has not been released.
Ms. Nankivell, speaking by cellphone with Canwest News Service, praised the work of Canadian officials and asked for privacy.
"I really don't have any comment. I am trying to get back to my home. Everything is fine. We all went through it," said Nankivell, who said she was on the way to the airport. "Everything is fine. We had a good experience working with the (Canadian) consulate."
Ms. Nankivell said she was originally from Toronto, with a home in Ottawa, and that she was currently posted overseas.
The prefix of her cellphone number is used in Beijing, China.
According to an August news release from Export Development Canada, an Alison Nankivell was named to the posting of senior equity manager in Beijing.
Ms. Nankivell's name was on a list of freed hostages from the Oberoi-Trident hotel given to local Indian media by authorities. Indian reporter Heena Kumawat, with television station IBN 7, read the list over the telephone to Canwest News Service.
Jennifer Dean Brooy, from eastern Ontario, was also on the list and her cellphone number had an Ottawa prefix. It rang through to voice mail.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon issued separate statements Friday morning saying that one Canadian had been killed, while five trapped in hotels had been freed. Twenty registered Canadians were known to be in Mumbai at the time of the terrorist attacks. Mr. Cannon said Friday all have been accounted for.
Commandos took control of the Trident-Oberoi hotel on Friday, some 36 hours after the evening terrorist strike on the city. Mumbai police chief Hassan Ghafoor said 24 bodies were found in the building.
But battles raged on with terrorists who were still holed up in another luxury hotel and a Jewish centre with at least half a dozen foreign hostages.
"The Oberoi Hotel and Trident are now under our control," the National Security Guards chief J.K. Dutt said. "Oberoi-Trident have been evacuated, we have killed two terrorists."
After a morning of shooting and explosions, the head of one commando unit flushing out terrorists at the five-star Taj Mahal hotel said he had seen 12 to 15 bodies in one room in the hotel.
The commandos found money, ammunition and an identity card from Mauritius that they suspected belonged to the terrorists, the commander, his face disguised by a black scarf and sunglasses, told a news conference.
One of the terrorists arrested in Mumbai was a Pakistani national, the interior minister of Maharashtra state, R.R. Patil, told reporters.
At least two Canadians were injured in the attacks. Mr. Cannon said in a statement that one of the Canadians had suffered serious injuries and was in stable condition in intensive care. The other Canadian had been released from the hospital. Consular officials visited the seriously injured Canadian and were in contact with his family, said Mr. Cannon.
Michael Rudder, of Montreal, was shot three times while in the restaurant area of Mumbai's luxury Oberoi-Trident Hotel, said Bobbie Garvey, vice-president of the Synchronicity Foundation, a U.S. based meditation group.
"He's had surgery and he's doing well," Mr. Garvey said Thursday. "He's stable -- not enough to fly home yet -- but he's stable."
Helen Connolly, a Toronto-based yoga instructor, was also grazed by a bullet in the attack, but Mr. Garvey said she was quickly released from hospital, is staying with a host family and is doing well.
The two Canadians were travelling in the area with the meditation group and were among the victims shot by terrorists in Mumbai as explosions continued to rock the embattled city Thursday.
"They went with our spiritual director on a pilgrimage to India, and wound up in the middle of this terrorist attack," said Mr. Garvey from his organization's base in Faber, Va.
Indian commandos fought room-to-room battles with the Islamic terrorists inside the two luxury hotels Thursday to save people trapped or taken hostage during the bloody siege.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned what he called "the despicable and cowardly attacks in Mumbai, India."
"The government of Canada is working closely with Indian authorities to find and assist any Canadians and their families who might be affected by these attacks," Harper said in a statement released Thursday. "Our consular staff in Ottawa and on the ground in Mumbai are working tirelessly to this end."
The Department of Foreign Affairs also issued a travel warning for Mumbai, saying Canadians should avoid non-essential travel.
A previously little-known organization calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen has sent an e-mail to news organizations claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the terrorists had come from "outside the country," while the military official leading the operation to flush them out, Maj.-Gen. R.K. Hooda, said they were from archrival Pakistan.
The Press Trust of India said one Pakistani man had been detained, although Pakistan's government fiercely denied any involvement.
Three of the terrorists have confessed they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, an Indian newspaper reported.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest Islamist terror groups in South Asia, denied on Thursday that it had any role in the attacks.
One of the terrorists was a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province, the Hindu said, citing unidentified police investigators.
"Based on the interrogation of the suspects, the investigators believe that one or more groups of Lashkar operatives left Karachi in a merchant ship early on Wednesday," the newspaper said.
It said the group came ashore at Mumbai on a small boat and then split up into small teams to attack multiple locations.
The Mumbai attacks bear some hallmarks of al-Qaida but it is too early to say if the network was behind the deadly assaults, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday.
Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is a major metropolitan centre on the west coast of India near the Arabian Sea.
Source: nationalpost.com
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