MUMBAI, Nov 27: This is how the terror attacks in Mumbai, which have left more than 119 people dead, unfolded.

— A series of attacks begins around 10.30pm on Wednesday involving gunmen armed with powerful assault rifles and grenades.

— Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy says “unknown terrorists” have opened fire in “at least seven to eight places” across the city. They include two five-star hotels (the Taj Palace and Oberoi-Trident) the main railway station, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.

— Military commandos storm the Taj Palace hotel in the early hours of Thursday, reportedly killing two gunmen and freeing some guests. Flames and a massive plume of smoke billow out of the hotel.

— A Jewish rabbi and his family are taken hostage by the gunmen at an office-residential complex which also houses a Jewish centre, India’s Jewish Federation says.

— One of the gunmen involved in the attacks tells a television channel he belongs to an Indian Islamist group seeking an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims.

— More flames and smoke billow out of the Taj Palace hotel following an encounter between police battling their way through the hotel and gunmen holding the hostages.

—- Three loud blasts are heard in south Mumbai, amid media reports that an operation is under way against armed militants who have taken the rabbi hostage.

—- With 200 people trapped in the Trident-Oberoi hotel, blaze breaks out in the hotel.

—- More than 125 people have been killed in the attacks, a senior police official says.—- The Israeli embassy says 10-20 of its nationals are among the hostages.—-AFP