Pakistan arrests 20 over India terrorism

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-10  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

PAKISTAN has intensified its crackdown on a militant group suspected in the Mumbai terror attacks by arresting 20 more people but will not hand any of its citizens over to India, officials said yesterday.

The United States is pressing Pakistan to help catch those behind the attack, which killed 171 people in India's business capital last month, and avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors that would harm efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

A senior Pakistani security official said troops raided at least five more offices of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan's portion of the disputed region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours.

Security forces were acting on information gleaned from Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged mastermind of the attacks who was picked up in the same region on Sunday.

The official said none of the latest 20 people detained were among those named by India in connection with the Mumbai carnage.

A Lashkar-e-Taiba official confirmed that there had been more raids on their offices.

Pakistani authorities have not publicly confirmed the names of those arrested since the raids got under way on Sunday. However, government and intelligence officials have confirmed that they include Lakhvi and several other members of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said yesterday that none of those detained so far would face justice in India.

"They are Pakistani citizens and will be dealt with according to the law of the land," Qureshi said. "No arrested Pakistani would be handed over to India."

President Asif Ali Zardari said the raids were a sign of Pakistan's resolve to help in the investigation.

India police released the names yesterday of nine suspected Islamic militants killed during their attack on Mumbai, bolstering India's charges that all of them came from Pakistan.