Days after the Mumbai terror attack, many survivors have been telling stories of the devastation they went through. A minority hold the view that British nationals had an input in the attack, but a top Indian official has said there was "no authentic information" to suggest that British citizens were involved in the Mumbai attacks.
Maharashtra State Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said he "totally denied" reports.
The United Kingdom Foreign Office also said there was "no evidence" that anyone British was involved in the massacre at locations across Mumbai.
Commandos said they had killed three militants inside the Taj Mahal Palace in an assault on the huge building.
Wednesday’s attacks on hotels, a rail station, a Jewish centre and other sites left at least 195 people dead including one Briton and 295 hurt. Most of the dead and the injured are Indian citizens. At least 22 foreigners are known to have died, including victims from Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Thailand and France.
Pakistan has pledged to act against any group found to have links to the militants.
Funerals have been held for some of the dead including Indian anti-terrorist squad chief, Hemant Karkare. However the number of militants involved in the co-ordinated attacks remains unclear, but Indian police say they have arrested one suspected attacker.
They are investigating whether a trawler found abandoned with a corpse on board is linked to the attacks.
Heavy, sustained gunfire was heard as soldiers rushed into the lobby to flush out the remaining few gunmen.
"There were three terrorists, we have killed them," the chief of India’s elite National Security Guard commandos, JK Dutt, said. Also, he said,
"There was (a) lot of shooting. Grenades were lobbed and explosives were used by the terrorists."
He stated that the gunmen had set fire to hotel rooms whenever his commandos were bearing down on them.
Guests who had been holed up during a three-day siege at the Taj Mahal Hotel have been telling of their ordeal. Richard Farah, a Briton, who was trapped in his room before being rescued by commando troops, told how he hid his passport in his false leg after terrorists were reported to be seeking British and American passport holders. Farrah, who lives in Jamaica but has family in London, told Sky News he saw trails of blood, broken glass and shoes as he was led from the building.
"Eventually we got to the lobby. I saw all the blood and broken glass and shrapnel… tonnes of blood and shoes, people’s shoes, women’s shoes, men’s shoes," he added.
Another Briton, Asian actor Joey Jeetun, said that a gun was held to his head after he was rescued from the Leopold Cafe Bar – another of the militants’ targets.
He said he was treated as suspicious because he did not look like a Mumbai local and was taken to a police station before being released.
The body of the only known British victim, Andreas Liveras, 73, has been flown back to London. Liveras, a businessman of Cypriot origin, was caught up in the early stages of the Mumbai attacks after he left a yacht moored in the harbour to go ashore for dinner. Unconfirmed report said that at least seven Britons were injured in the attacks on the Indian city.
Vicki Treadell, British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai, said she could not rule out more British fatalities. She however said she had visited "a number" of British nationals in hospitals. "They are in remarkably good spirits considering everything they have gone through," she remarked.
She added that the embassy had evacuated about 90 people to Britain and was looking to trace others.