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3 Lashkar fidayeen captured

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Police investigators say they have evidence that operatives of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the fidayeen-squad attacks in Mumbai — a charge which, if proven, could have far-reaching consequences for India-Pakistan relations.

Police sources said an injured terrorist captured during the fighting at the Taj Mahal hotel was tentatively identified as Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, near Multan, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Highly-placed police sources said two other Pakistani nationals had also be held in the course of intense fighting on Thursday.

All three, the sources said, identified themselves as members of a Lashkar fidayeen squad.

Based on the interrogation of the suspects, investigators believe that one or more groups of Lashkar operatives left Karachi in a merchant ship early on Wednesday. Late that night, an estimated 12 fidayeen left the ship in a small boat and rowed some ten nautical miles to Mumbai’s Gateway of India area.

Investigators say the fidayeen unit of which Mr. Kamal was a part then split up into at least six groups, each focussing on a separate target: Mumbai’s Nariman House, which is home to a large number of Israeli families and a Jewish prayer house; the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus rail station; the Cama hospital; the Girgaum seafront; and the Taj and Trident Oberoi hotels.

Stories in this Section

Fierce fighting rages in Mumbai
Political India responds unitedly
3 Lashkar fidayeen captured
V.P. Singh is dead
Lashkar was planning fidayeen attacks in Mumbai
Vulnerability of coastline in focus
Caught in the crossfire, 9 foreign nationals killed
Hospitality industry as soft target
Their brush with death
“Full-scale war, let’s stay united”
Symbols of inhumanity will be pursued: Congress
Manmohan talks tough, warns neighbours of ‘cost’
Those tense hours
U.S. offers assistance
Beastly act, say Muslim bodies
U.K. intelligence suspects Al-Qaeda hand
Bush, Obama condemn Mumbai terror attacks
Industry captains express shock
Attack targeted at tourists
One-Day International series called off
Poll takes backseat, fear grips Delhi
Inflation falls to 8.84 per cent

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