R R Patil, home minister for Maharashtra state, told reporters, "An attack on Mumbai is an attack on the rest of the country."
As the fighting continues, reports are surfacing on aspects of the attack.
Authorities have said that the attackers had first made their way to the Taj hotel on an inflatable boat, according to a report in Al Jazeera.
"We have been told that there were 12 people [on the boat]; they split up into smaller groups and then went off to the various locations were the attacks took place,"
James Wright, reporting for Al Jazeera, said..
"They kept shouting: 'Who has US or UK passports?'" said Ashok Patel, a British citizen who fled from the Taj Mahal.
A Jewish rabbi and his family are also thought to be under threat after gunmen stormed the building in which they were staying.
AFP reported the following eye witness reports:
One British guest at the Taj, Rakesh Patel, said he had been among a dozen people herded together by two heavily armed men and taken up to the hotel's upper floors.
"They were very young, like boys really, wearing jeans and T-shirts," the guest said.
"They said they wanted anyone with British and American passports and then they took us up the stairs. I think they wanted to take us to the roof," he said, adding that he and another hostage managed to escape on the 18th floor.
British businessman Alex Chamberlain told the Sky network that similar national profiling had been conducted by the gunmen in the Oberoi.
"They told everybody to stop and put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Americans. My friend said to me, 'don't be a hero, don't say you are British'," Chamberlain said.
One Japanese was among the dead, the foreign ministry in Tokyo said, while at least two Australians were injured.
Blog Wired has posted an amalgam of reports, some given during the battle. A photo of the gore at a rail station depicts the mayhem and fear during one of the attacks.
The BBC has also
published a gallery of photographs that will no doubt be updated as the siege continues.
Stratfor has published a frightening report of how the Mumbai attacks could result in a war between India and Pakistan which could easily draw in the USA.
While the fighting continues and the fate of the hostages remains in question, the Art of Diplomacy will be put to harsh test.
More to follow.
