NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (AFP) - All the "half a dozen" gunmen who attacked India's parliament Thursday have been killed, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said.
"There were half a dozen terrorists. They are all dead," he told AFP.
Five security personnel and a civilian were also killed in the attack.
"The first bullet was fired around 11:40 am (0610 GMT). The terrorists were armed with grenades and machine guns and they entered parliament by climbing over the boundary wall," he added.
Mahajan said the gunmen began firing at gate number one which is the general entrance for MPs and at gates number 11 and 12 which are the VIP entrances.
"Terrorists have attacked India's parliament. I think this is a challenge not just for the government but also for the entire nation," he said.
Mahajan said he did not know who was behind the attack.
India's Health Minister C.P. Thakur said the gunmen apparently entered by disguising their vehicle as a member of parliament's car which had a special security sticker on it.
Mahajan said the vice president was inside the parliament building at the time of the attack, as were Home Minster Lal Krishna Advani and Foreign Minster Jaswant Singh.
But Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and leader of the main opposition Congress party Sonia Gandhi were not there at the time, he said.
The prime minister is now at his residence, he said.
One television cameraman was injured, but no MPs were hurt, he added.
