India seeks 'most wanted 'men

INDIA has demanded the handover of almost two dozen suspected terrorists believed to be living in Pakistan, including some of India's most-wanted men, among them an underworld boss.

Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, said: "We have asked for the arrest and hand over of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitive of Indian law."

Pakistan replied saying it would consider India's request and respond to the list that was handed to Pakistan's ambassador in New Delhi on Monday night.

"We must try to dampen down the discourse of conflict and work toward regional peace," said Sherry Rehman,the Pakistani information minister.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that India was warned by America as recently as September that militants were plotting a waterborne assault on Mumbai, a senior US official said yesterday. He declined to elaborate on the timing or details of the intelligence.

Another anonymous US official said the assailants could have been at least partly based in Pakistan – the closest the US has come to laying blame.

The Indian government is accused of security and intelligence failures after suspected Muslim militants carried out the three-day assault on India's financial capital, killing at least 172 people and wounding 239 others.

India, which has released CCTV pictures of the moment terror struck Mumbai, has already demanded Pakistan take "strong action" against those responsible for the attacks, and the US has pressured Islamabad to co-operate in the investigation.

America's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is due to visit India today.

Indian officials are interrogating the only surviving gunman. He reportedly told police that he and the other nine terrorists had trained for months in camps in Pakistan operated by banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, who has promised to strengthen sea and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, yesterday met security aides to review any government lapses.

Mr Mukherjee appeared to tone tensions down by saying "nobody is talking about military action".

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan's foreign minister, pledged full co-operation. He said Pakistan has offered a "joint investigative mechanism and joint commission".

The surviving attacker, Ajmal Qasab, told police his group trained for about six months in camps operated by LeT in Pakistan, learning close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling of explosives, satellite navigation and sea survival skills, according to two Indian security officials.

The gunmen struck several sites, including a railway station, where they gunned down police and passers-by, and the two luxury hotels, the Trident-Oberoi and the Taj Mahal Palace.

Three big names on the run across the border

THESE are three of the fugitives named by India in its demands that Pakistan hand over about 20 militants it suspects of hiding in the neighbouring country since 2002.

Among the wanted men is Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a professor of Islamic studies who founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1990 to fight for Kashmiri separatism.

A protegé of Abdullah Azam, a Palestinian mentor to Osama bin Laden, he set up Markaz Dawal al-Irshad to teach Wahabism, a version of Islam rooted in Saudi Arabia.

Dawood Ibrahim, 52, is an Indian-born underworld boss designated an international terrorist by the US and believed to be in Pakistan.

He has eluded authorities for the past 15 years and is believed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

In 1993, Ibrahim and his brother Anis allegedly masterminded India's worst bombings, which killed at least 250 people and wounded more than 700 in Mumbai.

Maulana Masood Azhar, born in the southern Punjab district of Bahawalpur in 1968, was educated at Karachi's Jamia Binoria, a religious school that recruited fighters for the 1980s war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Azhar fought in Afghanistan, but really made his mark writing propaganda and making speeches in support of the cause. Azhar formed Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group dedicated to removing India from Kashmir.