LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he believed there were no Britons among hostages still held by militants who stormed two luxury hotels in Mumbai.
Brown described the attacks which began Wednesday as "atrocious" and called for strengthened international cooperation against terrorism, in the wake of attacks which some have described as "India's 9/11."
"It is clear that we have got to help the Indian government deal with this terrorist incident and we have sent people from the Metropolitan Police to help," he told Sky News.
"This is an atrocious outbreak of violence planned in advance and I think we have got to look at how international action against terrorism can be improved over the next period of time."
Asked if he believed any Britons were among those still held hostage in Mumbai, Brown said: "As far as we know, that is not the case.
"Of course, we are mourning the death of a British citizen... and as the (British) High Commissioner visits hospitals in the Mumbai area, we are hoping to discover more in terms of the number of people injured," he added.
The Briton who died has been named as British-Cypriot businessman Andreas Liveras, a 73-year-old yachting tycoon, who had given a media interview hours before he died describing how he was trapped in a hotel with gunmen outside.
It remains unclear how many people are still being held hostage in Mumbai. A number of foreigners have made calls from inside the two hotels involved, saying they are trapped inside rooms although not specifically held hostage.
Brown added that he would shortly call Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the latest state of the crisis, which was still not resolved more than 36 hours after it erupted Wednesday night.
At least 130 people have been killed in the attacks.
"There is so much information still to be discovered and made available. I have heard what prime minister Singh has said and I'll talk to him about it this morning," he said.
"But obviously when you have terrorists operating in one country, they may be getting support from another country or coming from another country, and it is very important that we strengthen the co-operation between India and Britain in dealing with these instances of terrorist attacks," he added.
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