MUMBAI - THE Indian military launched a grenade attack on Friday on Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel to flush out at least one militant who returned fire, scattering media assembled opposite the building.

Four grenades were launched into a part of the hotel where the militant or militants were believed to be hiding. Fire was returned and an AFP camerawoman at the scene was struck in the leg by a splinter and taken to hospital.

NEW DELHI - THE brazen attacks in Mumbai signal a sea-change in the Islamist militant violence that has beset India, showing sophisticated planning and an 'anti-Western agenda', analysts say.

Militants stormed a series of high-profile targets late on Wednesday in India's financial capital, including the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel, a landmark restaurant, the main train station and a charitable hospital for women and children.

PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - PAKISTANI police say a suicide car bomber has killed seven people in the northwestern town of Bannu.

Bannu police chief Mohammed Alam Shinwari said the attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police car patrolling the town's streets on Friday.