Before I get to the article:

I have been getting steady emails from my local Chabad to pray for this family and the others. I kind of shook it off. Why? Forget the religion part for a moment please. Praying, lighting candles, and sending positive energy out into the world is a waste in cases like this, because unless you are open to that positive, it wont reach you. So I was so saddened to hear that this happened.

As it turns out, one of the men and his 13 year old daughter were also murdered. My father knew them, lived down the street from the man when they were kids, went to camp with him… it’s a terrible world we live in on this day. The Rabbi’s baby was let go with the nanny yesterday. What can you even begin to tell that child?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/28/india.attacks/index.html

Rabbi, wife among Mumbai terror deaths

* Story Highlights
* NEW: Death toll rises to 160 civilians, police and military
* Rabbi and his wife among five hostages reported killed at Jewish center
* Indian official again suggests that terrorists came from Pakistan
* Police say Oberoi Hotel standoff has ended; One gunman still at Taj Mahal Hotel

MUMBAI, India (CNN) — Security forces believe one gunman is still holed up inside a luxury hotel in Mumbai as it appears military operations against the terrorist gang are winding down at two other sites.

As the death toll from two days of violence rose to 160, details of some of those killed were emerging including Indian police and military, a rabbi, an American father and teen daughter, and a British yacht magnate.

The bodies of five hostages were found at the Chabad House Jewish center where commandos stormed the building through a hole blasted in the wall.

After several hours of gunfire and explosions from inside all went quiet and CNN’s senior international correspondent Nic Robertson said it appeared the operation was over.

The death toll from attacks in nine locations was 160 — including three Germans, an Italian, an Australian and one Chinese among the at least 15 foreigners killed — with a further 327 injured. VideoWatch troops shooting at Chabad House »

Maharashtra state official Bhushan Gagrani said the death toll is expected to rise further and includes civilians, 16 police and two commandos. Eleven terrorists have also been killed.

Earlier, police said they had cleared the Oberoi Hotel, killing two militants and freeing hundreds of trapped guests. They found 30 bodies and were searching the building. VideoWatch hostages walk to freedom »

The killed Americans identified as Alan Scherr, 58, and his daughter Naomi, 13, from Virginia died at the Oberoi. They were visiting India with a meditation group. Read more about those killed in the terror attacks

Fighting continued to rage at the Taj Mahal Hotel — where one gunmen was reportedly still holed up.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor told CNN-IBN the gunman was shooting and throwing grenades at security forces.

Gafoor said most of the attackers had been heavily armed. “They were carrying an AK-assault rifle, one or two hand guns, and grenades.”

Outside, onlookers and reporters cowered behind cars as gunfire was exchanged and explosions could be heard. VideoWatch CNN’s exclusive access to some of the wounded »

CNN’s International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said UK authorities were checking reports that some of the attackers were of British origin.

Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee, the external affairs minister for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, said the preliminary investigation “indicates that some elements in Pakistan are involved.”

“I can’t tell you the details since the investigation is going on,” he said. “Until the investigation is complete, it will be difficult to say where they came from and how they came.”

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also indicated the gunmen came from Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, in a telephone call with his Pakistani counterpart Friday.

In response, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he would send the chief of his country’s intelligence agency to help with the investigation.

The gunmen were young men in their 20s who “obviously had to be trained somewhere,” a member of the Indian navy’s commando unit said Friday.

They fired at guests “with no remorse” and knew the layout of the hotels well enough to “vanish” after confronting security forces, the commando said.

“Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw a grenade like that,” the commando said outside the Taj hotel. “It is obvious that they were trained somewhere.”

The shell-shocked city woke Friday to television images of Indian soldiers rappelling down ropes from military choppers on to the roof of Chabad House, which houses the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad community, a Hasidic Jewish movement. VideoWatch the commando talk about the attackers »

The Chabad-Lubavitch International group said Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, made a phone call to the Israeli Consulate to report gunmen in the house. “In the middle of the conversation the line went dead,” the organization said. His wife, Rivka, 28, was also killed.

The couple’s toddler son, Moshe, escaped with his nanny, the organization said in a written statement.

The bodies of three other hostages were found in the building. Two gunmen died in the battle at Chabad House, CNN-IBN reported.

The identity of the attackers remained a mystery. Police said they came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument and the two hotels.

Indian naval and coast guard investigators have determined that two vessels recently seized in the Arabian Sea have no links to the Mumbai attacks. A fishing trawler, however, remains in custody.

The Press Trust of India, citing Union Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal, reported the gunmen had worked for months to prepare, even setting up “control rooms” in the two luxury hotels that were targeted.

Indian authorities said no one had claimed responsibility, although the Deccan Mujahideen took credit in e-mails sent to several Indian news outlets.

Interpol said it would send a delegation to India.

“When such coordinated and planned terrorist attacks are carried out against international targets and when a country’s head of government states there are suspected ‘external linkages’, the police in the country concerned require international assistance,” said Interpol’s Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

CNN’s Andrew Stevens, Mallika Kapur, Harmeet Singh, Sara Sidner, Alessio Vinci, Reza Sayah and Paula Newton contributed to this report.