British authorities investigating alleged Mumbai link (Roundup)

Nov 28, 2008, 14:17 GMT

London - The British government is investigating reports that British citizens of Pakistani origin could have been among the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, officials confirmed Friday.

British security services had asked their counterparts in India for information on the reports, the BBC said, citing security sources.

However, there was so far 'no hard evidence' that British terrorists were involved.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown refused to be drawn on the claims, saying he would discuss the matter Friday on the phone with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

'I would not want to be drawn into early conclusions about this,' Brown said on Sky News.

'But obviously when you have terrorists operating in one country they may be getting support from another country or coming from another country and it is very important that we strengthen the co- operation between India and Britain in dealing with these instances of terrorist attack,' Brown added.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Friday he had 'no information' about the reports 'at the moment.'

He said Britain was working 'very, very closely with the Indians,' but added that it was too soon to determine the nationality of the terrorists.

'Obviously, the priority of Indian authorities is to complete this operation. They can then start identifying who are the terrorists, what is their background,' said Miliband in an interview with Sky News.

Speculation about the possible involvement of British citizens in the attacks was also fuelled by remarks attributed to Erika Mann, a German member of the European Parliament, who was caught up in the attacks during a visit of an EU delegation to Mumbai.

According to a press release published by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Mann spoke of 'unconfirmed reports' that British citizens were involved.

'The attacks appear to have a European dimension. We have heard from journalists and other people we were with that English citizens took part in the attacks and were killed in the hotel,' she was quoted as saying.

A British businessman died in the attacks and at least seven Britons were injured, the government has confirmed.