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SYDNEY, Nov 28, 2008 (AFP) - A second Australian man was Friday confirmed killed in the wave of militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai as local media reported that the total could rise to four dead.
The latest victim was Doug Markell, 71, a former deputy mayor of a Sydney suburb, opposition Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull told reporters.
"He played a leading role in our community in the suburbs of Sydney and I'm very deeply saddened by his death," said Turnbull, whose electorate includes Markell's suburb.
"The series of attacks in Mumbai remind us of the importance of the war against terror and the price being paid by Australian soldiers in the front line."
Australia has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Markell and his wife Alison were on an organised tour of India and were believed to have been in a hotel restaurant when the attacks happened, family friend John Young told the national AAP news agency.
He described Markell, a semi-retired businessman with three grandchildren, as "generous, kind, polite, quite a gentleman."
Another Sydney man, Brett Taylor, was the first confirmed Australian casualty among 130 people killed in the coordinated attacks on the Indian city.
Taylor, a 49-year-old timber merchant, was a member of a New South Wales state trade delegation staying at the Trident/Oberoi, one of two luxury hotels targeted by the militants.
State premier Nathan Rees said Friday there were concerns about other members of the delegation.
"The information I have is that we still hold grave fears for two other people from New South Wales at the present," he told commercial radio.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said there were fears that at least four Australians could be among the dead, including Taylor and Markell.
The broadcaster said a supposed casualty list from a Mumbai hospital leaked on the Internet listed three dead Australians, including Taylor but not Markell.
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