ONE Briton was killed and at least seven were injured in devastating co-ordinated attacks on Mumbai that left more than 100 dead, officials said today.
Gunmen opened fire yesterday on a series of civilian targets in the heart of India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels and a packed railway station.
Violence continued for a second day as terrorists holding hostages exchanged fire with Indian commandos.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed one Briton died and said next of kin had been informed, but would not give any more details.
Sir Richard Stagg, the British High Commissioner in India, said he had seen three or four injured Britons in hospital but admitted the total "must be significantly more".
Earlier he said he knew of at least seven British casualties.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the horrific attacks had been met by "shock and outrage" around the world and pledged all possible UK support for the Indian authorities.
He went on: "This is the loss of innocent lives, people just going about their daily business. We've got to do everything we can now to help."
Mr Brown revealed the Government's emergency Cobra committee met twice immediately after the incident and said he was in touch with "a number" of world leaders.
"In time we will assess which group has been responsible – we don't have all the details – and what the implications are for the rest of the world," he said.
An FCO rapid deployment team, including two British Red Cross workers, flew to Mumbai this morning to help Britons caught up in the attacks.
UK police and security officials with anti-terror experience also travelled to India to support British High Commission staff, and Indian officials if required.
Indian National Security Guard (NSG) comandoes take up positions in the Colaba market area of Mumbai
Speaking from Mumbai, Sir Richard told Sky News: "It's a pretty confused situation still.
"The crisis at the Oberoi hotel is continuing and I think the Indians have been focusing very much on bringing the terrorist incident to a conclusion and on getting the injured people to hospitals as quickly as possible.
"Those that I saw appeared to be being looked after well."
A British woman who was shot during the attacks recounted today how she held her husband as he slipped out of consciousness.
Retired teachers Diane and Michael Murphy, from near Hexham in Northumberland, are on holiday in India and had only been in Mumbai for one day when the terrorists struck.
Mrs Murphy, 58, was shot in the foot and her husband, 59, took a bullet in the ribs when the terrorists stormed the packed Leopold Cafe.
Mr Murphy needed to have his spleen removed and remains in intensive care.
His wife, who is still in hospital, recalled: "All of a sudden there was automatic gunfire. The whole place fell apart.
"It was tremendously loud. My husband and I were hit, as were lots of people. Everybody was down on the ground. The gunfire stopped for a few seconds then started again.
"We had to wait – it seemed like an age – for the police to arrive.
"I stayed with my husband because I could tell he was seriously injured. He was losing consciousness."
Witnesses described the terrorists looking for Britons and Americans.
British Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim said he was forced to flee to a "safe" basement in the Taj Mahal Palace after gunmen stormed the hotel.
There were at least 10 targets, including the two five-star hotels, the Leopold Cafe, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station, the headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group, The Metro cinema and the Cama hospital.
A group calling itself Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed at least 104 people and left more than 300 wounded.
But experts said they had never heard of the organisation and suggested the radical Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) might have been behind the massacre.
Paul Wilkinson, emeritus professor of international relations at St Andrews University, said the terrorists' choice of civilian targets and interest in attacking Americans and Britons were "characteristic of the al Qaida movement".
He added: "India has been experiencing an escalation of jihadi-related terrorism in the last couple of years. This is certainly the worst manifestation of it.
"It is not a typical separatist event of the kind that you get in Assam and in other areas that have been in rebellion against the Indian state."
Two foreign nationals who were held hostage by gunmen for nearly twenty four hours walk together following their release from the Trident Oberoi hotel in Mumbai on November 27, 2008
The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for India in light of the attacks, warning against all but essential travel to Mumbai.
When gunmen entered the Taj hotel, businessman Hugh Brown took refuge in a library area with a large group of people.
He said one man who stayed with them later turned out to be a terrorist.
He told Sky News: "We were let out at one point at about 2.30am.
"There was a gunman who had been in amongst us in the room for the best part of the evening.
"When he got out with us, he started shooting some of the people as they were leaving the room.
"He was then dealt with by the security forces.
"He pretended to be one of us in the room.
"He had a rucksack which he wouldn't allow us to look into, he said it was private property.
"In retrospect, we probably should have done something about that."
He said about 20 people managed to get out at 2.30am but the rest had to run back into the room when the gunman started firing.
Mr Brown said the gunman, who had two accomplices, was "clean cut" and "young". "They all looked fairly normal people," he said.
One Briton caught up in the terror attacks said today she thought she would die before she escaped from the Taj Hotel.
Lawyer Tasneem Jeevanjee, 42, had only been in the hotel for a few hours when it was attacked.
She and other hostages were locked in a room but one person smashed a window and they fled.
Ms Jeevanjee's mother Sara, who is from Southampton, told the Southern Daily Echo: "She was locked in the room with four other people by the terrorists.
"The whole room was filled with smoke and they couldn't breathe.
"She told us that at that point she was minutes from death.
"But luckily one of the men managed to break a window in the room."
The window was by a road and the five escaped.
Ms Jeevanjee was then able to text her family to tell them she was safe. But she has suffered smoke inhalation and is in shock, her family added.
British nationals Alistair Francis and fiancee Nicole Griffen were in their 15th floor bedroom of the Taj Hotel at the time of the attack.
Mr Francis told Sky News: "We heard something – I thought it was just fireworks or something like that. Then about 20 minutes later we got a telephone call saying turn off the TV, turn off the lights – there is a guy with a gun.
"I assumed it was one guy with a gun."
The couple stayed in the room and began to get a clearer idea of the scale of the attack via the internet.
At around 6am they heard a knock at the door and were told by security men to go to the ground floor.
Ms Griffen said: "Unfortunately along the way we saw a couple of sites where the terrorists had left their mark. It was very harrowing to learn how many employees of the Taj were lost, how many policemen were then lost.
"The real saddening part is, as a tourist, you can get over something like this, but so many lives were affected."
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