MUMBAI, India — Terrorism experts said the late-evening timing of the Mumbai attacks offered several potential advantages for the attackers.

Security is generally more lax at that hour, as businesses prepare to close. There's less traffic in the congested city, making it easier to position a large number of attackers at disparate sites. And it allows the story to hit news cycles in Europe and North America, with global publicity a key objective among terrorists hoping to undermine stability and spread fear.

Local government officials said as many as four attackers were killed and nine arrested. An unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility, but experts cautioned that the claim could be a hoax.

Witnesses said the attackers fired automatic weapons apparently at random and made no effort to hide their identities. Experts said this suggested the attackers were prepared to die.

Police released a picture of a man with a serene smile wearing a blue T-shirt and holding an automatic weapon whom they identified as one of the attackers at the railway station.

At the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, firefighters used their trucks to help people out of windows as others battled blazes on the roof. Bystanders used ornate gold-colored luggage trolleys to transport bodies out of the lobby.

"I guess they were after foreigners because they were asking for British or American passports," said Rakesh Patel, a Briton who lives in Hong Kong and who was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on business, according to Reuters. "They had bombs."

The attack comes at a sensitive time for India and the region. Five Indian states are holding elections now, and a national vote is expected early next year. The opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party of being soft on terrorism.

It also comes amid improved relations between India and the new Pakistani government led by President Asif Ali Zardari.

"The enemy of all terrorists is moderation," said Bruce Hoffman, a professor with Georgetown University's Security Studies Program in Washington. "They want to put harder-line parties in power. The oxygen they breathe is polarization and enmity."

The U.S. and British governments, among others, condemned the attacks.

Los Angeles Times staff writer Magnier reported from Beijing, and special correspondent Sharma from Mumbai.