New Delhi, Nov. 27 : The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Thursday strongly condemned Wednesday’s terror strikes across southern Mumbai, describing the incidents as an attempt to destablise the country.

Addressing the nation even as the firefight between security personnel and the terrorists continued in India’s commercial capital, Dr. Singh said the Mumbai attacks were “well-orchestrated” by terrorists, who had chosen high-profile targets.

He said: “These attacks are an act to destablise the nation.”

Mumbai, Nov. 27 : The Indian Navy has intercepted and boarded MV Alpha, a Vietnamese registered ship, which is suspected to have dropped the terrorists off the coast of Mumbai.

The crew of the ship is being questioned.

"The Coast Guard and Navy chased the MV Alpha. They are being assisted by Dornier aircraft and surface ships. The navy has enhanced patrolling from the Mumbai coast up to Gujarat," said Captain Nambiar, the defence Public Relations Officer.

The Navy''s Leander class frigate ''Vindhyagiri'' and naval helicopters from the INS Kunjali were involved in pursuit of the merchant vessel.

Imphal, Nov. 27:Five laborers were shot dead and some seriously injured by suspected Naga militants at Maphou dam area located near the border of Ukhrul and Thoubal districts in Manipur.

The militants in army uniform gunned down five labourers engaged in the construction of the dam over Thoubal river at Maphou area under Litan police station. Equipment used in the construction of the dam were also damaged by the militants Injured people have been admitted to hospital in critical condition.

Chennai, Nov 27 : Heavy rains triggered off by the inching cyclone ''Nisha'' towards the southern coast of India continued to lash Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu disrupting life on Thursday.

The streets in Chennai were literally submerged and traffic moved at a snail''s pace on the waterlogged streets.

People of the area complained that the rainwater had started entering their houses and the government was not taking any action.

India and Nepal have decided to work together to restore the embankment of Kosi river in their border region that ruptured and flooded hundreds of villages in August. The deadline for this work has been set as March 2009.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited the region with his Nepalese counterpart, Upendra Yadav on Wednesday to review the repair work of the breached portion of the river banks.

According to television channels reports, on Thursday, an organisation
calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed the responsibility
attacks in Mumbai which has left over 100 dead and over 300 injured.

This previously little known or rather unknown group sent emails to news organisations claiming responsibility.

The Indian intelligence seemed to have been caught on the back foot
this time, with little information about this group or their exact
intentions.

Though there was no confirmation but the pattern suggested involvement
of Laskar-e-Tayyaba. This sort of coordinated and large scale attack
suggests terrorism of global nature rather than local. Many of the