Israeli embassy says 10-20 of its nationals among Mumbai hostages
Posted: 28 November 2008 0223 hrs

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NEW DELHI: Around 10 to 20 Israeli nationals, possibly more, are among the hostages being held by Islamic militants in India's economic capital Mumbai, the Israeli embassy told AFP on Thursday.

"At this stage, probably there are between 10 to 20 Israeli nationals being held hostage, but it could be more," said Eli Belotsercovsky, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi.

When asked if Israel was assisting Indian security forces in the massive counter-terrorism operation, he replied that "Indian security forces are handling the situation and there is no such initiative that I know of."

"We have full confidence in the capability of the Indian government to handle this situation," he added.

Earlier in Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni condemned the "terrorist attack."

"This is one more painful bit of evidence that the terrorist threat is the greatest threat confronting Israel and the international community," she said in a statement.

Later, at a press conference, she offered the Indian authorities unspecified assistance in dealing with the crisis "if they wish us to help them."

On Thursday night, Livni was meeting with a crisis cell that had been set up to monitor developments in Mumbai.

For his part, ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said there were "no Israeli deaths or injuries included in lists provided by hospitals" in Mumbai.

Indian commandos were fighting to end the multiple hostage crisis, battling Islamist gunmen holding foreign guests in two luxury hotels and the Nariman House commercial-residential complex after attacks across the city left over 125 dead.

Nariman House is home to a Jewish prayer and study centre - Chabad House - run by the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch sect that doubles as a hostel.

Earlier on Thursday, a cook at Chabad House told Israeli newspaper Haaretz she had managed to escape with the two-year-old son of the centre's co-directors, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka.

Haaretz, which did not comment on the fate of the Holtzbergs, said "eight people in the building were unconscious."

Israeli news websites reported that six nationals, including the rabbi and his wife, remained hostage inside Chabad House.

The newspaper described Chabad House as a "a popular stop for Israeli tourists. The Holtzbergs offer visitors a host of programmes, including providing kosher food."

Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, a Lubavitch spokesman in New York, told Haaretz the gunmen seized a police vehicle, which allowed them access to the area around Chabad House.

A businessman who lives nearby told the Haaretz correspondent that neighbours had tried to protect the house but had been overwhelmed.

"They clashed with the gunmen and threw rocks at them in an effort to drive the militants away," Puran Doshi told the paper.

"The crowd eventually retreated under fire from the assailants, who also threw several hand grenades. They shot indiscriminately into the crowd." - AFP/de