India links 9 Mumbai attackers to Pakistan

Indian police have released the names and aliases of nine suspected militants killed during their attacks on sites across Mumbai, who officials say all hailed from Pakistan.

If confirmed, the new information would add credence to India's claims that the attacks were launched from Pakistan.

Chief police investigator Rakesh Maria released more information about the gunmen, including photographs of eight of them. The pictures were taken from identity cards andafter they were killedin the attack.

Maria said most of the attackers came from Pakistan's Punjab province, and all were between the ages of 20 and 28.

Maria said the men had been introduced to each other by their aliases, but during the operation had told each other their real names.

India has blamed the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks in November that left 171 people dead.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday there is "no doubt" the attacks were planned on Pakistani soil.

Man held since February to questioned about attacks

The attackers, who apparently landed by boat on the Mumbai coast the night of Nov. 26,were led byIsmail Khan, 25, from Pakistan's North West Frontier province, said Maria.

Khan, who led the attackon Mumbai's central rail station, was a veteran of other Lashkar attacks, Maria said. He did not provide any more details.

Police will question one man they have had in custody since February in connection with the attacks, Maria said. The man, identified only as Sabauddin, may have provided help to the attackers,he said.

Maria said Sabauddin was arrested along with an Indian national, Faheem Ansari, in February in northern India carrying hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites in Mumbai that were later attacked.

Maria did not provide Sabauddin's nationality.

The sole surviving gunman of the attacks, Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, remains in custody. He has told interrogators he was sent to Mumbai by the Lashkar group.

Alleged mastermind arrested

The attacks have increased tensions between the two nuclear rivals as India has demanded that Pakistan take action.

Five offices of Lashkar-e-Taiba were raided by Pakistani troops in Pakistan's portion of the disputed region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours, a senior security official said.

The official said none of the latest 20 people detained were among those named by India in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

On Sunday, Pakistani authorities arrested the man India alleges was the mastermind of the Mumbaiattacks.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was arrested in a Pakistani raid of an extremist camp in the disputed Kashmir region. Lakhvi, Indian officials say, recruited for the deadly attacks.

U.S. officials have said Lakhvi directed Lashkar operations in Chechnya, Bosnia and Southeast Asia, where he allegedly trained members to carry out suicide bombings.

Pakistan previously indicated that anyone found on its soil to have connections with the Mumbai attacks will be punished according to its law, despite suggestions from India that it wants suspects in the attacks transferred to its custody.