India names 'Pakistani' gunmen behind Mumbai massacre

Published on Tuesday 9 December 2008 16:46

All nine terrorist gunmen killed during the Mumbai massacre were from Pakistan, India said today.

Chief investigator Rakesh Maria gave the names and the aliases used by the gunmen in the attacks. He also showed photographs of eight of the men – some taken from identity cards, while others were gruesome shots of their corpses.

He said the body of a ninth was too badly burned to be shown.

He also detailed the districts and towns in Pakistan from where the gunmen are believed to have come.

He did not say how police had tracked down their home towns, although police have been interrogating the lone surviving gunman.

India has blamed the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks that left 171 people dead and have demanded that Pakistan take action.

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

The United States is pressing Pakistan to help catch those behind the attack, and avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbours that would harm efforts against the Taliban and al Qaida.

Meanwhile Pakistan said it had intensified its crackdown on Lashkar-e-Taiba in its area of the disputed region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours.

Security forces were acting on information 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.

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

Peace talks that have eased tension with India in recent years must move forward to "foil the designs of the terrorists" who struck in Mumbai, he wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times today.

"Pakistan is committed to the pursuit, arrest, trial and punishment of anyone involved in these heinous attacks," he wrote.

Meanwhile the owners of the Taj Mahal hotel, scene of much of the bloodshed, said they would hold an interfaith prayer ceremony to rededicate the building.

Raymond Bickson, the managing director of Taj Hotels, said the 105-year hotel would reopen with a ceremony performed by Parsi, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish religious leaders.

The historic hotel suffered extensive damage during the siege, frequently catching fire as the gunmen and commandos battled it out.

Work has already begun, assessing the structure and clearing rubble and damaged furniture.

It was not clear how long reconstruction work would take.