Employees of Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel gesture after a news conference held at the hotel on Wednesday. (Rajanish Kakade/Associated Press)Mumbai's renovated Oberoi hotel has reopened its doors, 18 months after an attack left several people dead and much of the building in shambles.

About 40 guests entered the five-star hotel after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony Sunday morning.

The landmark luxury hotel was among several sites targeted by Islamist militants in a series of co-ordinated attacks in the coastal city, India's financial capital.

Pakistan-based gunmen armed with grenades stormed the Oberoi on the evening of Nov. 26, 2008. Indian security forces entered the building on the third day of the siege and freed dozens of hostages.

Thirty-five people died in the Oberoi and the adjoining Trident hotel. More than 160 people across the city died in attacks on other targets, including the Taj Mahal Hotel, Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and a Jewish centre.

Officials at the Oberoi say it cost $45 million US to revamp all of its rooms, repair the lobby and remodel the restaurant. They increased the number of suites, to 73 from 22, and reduced the number of basic rooms in order to recoup some of the expenses.