Pakistan identifies 20 suspects with links to Mumbai attacks

Nov 29, 2010, 12:09 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan has identified 20 more suspects allegedly involved in the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, which killed 166 people, a local media report said Monday.

The Express Tribune newspaper reported that most of the suspects were members of the banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

After an initial denial that its territory was used to plan the attacks, Islamabad has acknowledged that the 10 gunmen who targeted Mumbai's main railway station, luxury hotels and a Jewish centre were linked to the LeT, which is believed to still have bases in Pakistan.

Seven men - including the accused key plotter and operational chief of LeT, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi - have been charged in Pakistan, but none has been convicted. India complained last week of the 'lack of progress' in the trial.

According to The Express Tribune, which cited a classified report it obtained, the 20 new suspects allegedly provided logistical and monetary support for the attack.

The three-day terrorist siege strained relations between the two nuclear-armed South-Asian rivals and suspended a four-year peace process.

The two countries have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947. The Himalayan region of Kashmir, over which the two countries both lay claim, remain the main issue between them.

The LeT claims to be an organization fighting for the secession of Indian-controlled Kashmir. The valley of Kashmir is majority-Muslim.

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