Bloomberg attends prayers for Mumbai

NEW YORK: Several hundred people participated in a prayer organised by Hindu Temple Society of North America in the Queens suburb of New York, which was also attended by several city officials including Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
    

"As New Yorkers, we know the toll that terrorism takes too well," Bloomberg said, adding, "People of New York and Mumbai are united in their grief".
    

An Islamic civil rights group in America also condemned the "senseless and inexcusable" terror attacks, while asking the Indian government to protect its citizens from possible
retaliatory violence.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group for Muslims, said the "cowardly attacks" were "senseless and inexcusable acts of violence against innocent civilians".
    

"American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens of all faith in repudiating acts of terror wherever they take place and whomever they target," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
    

The Washington-based group, in a statement also asked the Indian government to protect its citizens from any retaliatory attacks that might take place following the incident.