to end a multiple hostage crisis in Mumbai after suspected Islamic

militants killed 125 people across the city.

Officials said they had almost totally cleared the luxury Taj Mahal

hotel where gunmen had been holed up for more than 24 hours after

their rampage of gunfire and grenade blasts.

Thirty-nine people were rescued from the five-star Oberoi/Trident

hotel, where "mopping up" operations were still underway, police

said.

Security forces were also trying to secure an office-residential

complex that houses a Jewish centre, where an uncertain number of

Israelis were believed to be trapped or held hostage. Two

explosions were heard at the site early Friday.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the militants had come

from "outside the country."

The Press Trust of India said one Pakistani militant had been

detained, although Pakistan's government fiercely denied any

involvement.

More than 24 hours after the attacks began, military officials said

special forces had successfully cleared the landmark Taj Mahal

Palace hotel of all but one injured gunman.

"I think we should be able to mop up the operation very quickly,"

National Security Guards director general J.K. Dutt said.

At the Oberoi-Trident, an aide to Mumbai police commissioner A N

Roy said commandos were still "engaged in mopping up operations and

looking for other people who might be still in there."

"Around 39 people have been brought out, some of them are

foreigners," he said. "We cannot yet say whether the hotel is...

100 percent clear of terrorists."

Scores of guests had been trapped in their rooms -- too terrified

to move.

"We've been waiting for hours and hours for the army to come and

say we can go downstairs," said a Western woman, contacted by AFP

on her mobile phone late on Thursday, from inside the

Oberoi/Trident.

"We have to keep silent. They could be looking for hostages," she

said.

Indian media reports said between six and nine foreign nationals

were among the dead in Mumbai -- including a Japanese businessman,

an Australian, a Briton , a German and an Italian.