MUMBAI - Nearly 80 people, including Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, have been killed in a series of shootings and blasts across India's financial capital Mumbai, the state government said.

The Maharashtra state government said the death toll had risen to 78, according to the Press Trust of India news agency, and that six Indian army units had been deployed to the south of the city.

Heavily armed men with automatic weapons and grenades targeted two of Mumbai's top luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and Trident, and the main Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station.