December 07, 2008
Indian police have arrested two men suspected of helping the militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks, amid reports of a home-grown terror link and fresh security jitters.
Pakistan said it was awaiting "concrete proof" that a group based there carried out the November 26-29 attacks on India's financial capital that killed 172 people, including nine attackers.
The arrests of the two men late are believed to be the first in connection with the attacks, other than the capture of one of the militants during the 60-hour siege.
The men - identified as Tousif Rahaman and Sheikh Muktar - were held "for allegedly providing SIM cards to the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks," senior Kolkata police official Javed Shamim said.
Rahaman, who was arrested in Kolkata, "bought about 40 SIM cards from the city, two of which are believed to have been given to the terrorists,'' he said.
Shamim said Muktar - who was detained in New Delhi - was from revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, where Islamic militants have been waging a nearly two-decade battle against New Delhi's rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
The pair appeared in a Kolkata court on Saturday and were remanded in custody for two weeks on accusations of forgery and cheating.
India has accused Pakistan of harbouring Islamists who trained and equipped the 10 militants, straining ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours and threatening a slow-moving peace process.
Suspicion has fallen on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has fought Indian control of divided Kashmir and was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which brought the two countries to the brink of war.
Several Indian newspapers have cited unidentified intelligence sources as saying Pakistan's powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was involved in training the gunmen.
Indian police have arrested two men suspected of helping the militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks, amid reports of a home-grown terror link and fresh security jitters.
Pakistan said it was awaiting "concrete proof" that a group based there carried out the November 26-29 attacks on India's financial capital that killed 172 people, including nine attackers.
The arrests of the two men late are believed to be the first in connection with the attacks, other than the capture of one of the militants during the 60-hour siege.
The men - identified as Tousif Rahaman and Sheikh Muktar - were held "for allegedly providing SIM cards to the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks," senior Kolkata police official Javed Shamim said.
Rahaman, who was arrested in Kolkata, "bought about 40 SIM cards from the city, two of which are believed to have been given to the terrorists,'' he said.
Shamim said Muktar - who was detained in New Delhi - was from revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, where Islamic militants have been waging a nearly two-decade battle against New Delhi's rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
The pair appeared in a Kolkata court on Saturday and were remanded in custody for two weeks on accusations of forgery and cheating.
India has accused Pakistan of harbouring Islamists who trained and equipped the 10 militants, straining ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours and threatening a slow-moving peace process.
Suspicion has fallen on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has fought Indian control of divided Kashmir and was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which brought the two countries to the brink of war.
Several Indian newspapers have cited unidentified intelligence sources as saying Pakistan's powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was involved in training the gunmen.
Source: The Australian from: Agence France-Presse
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