PAKISTAN'S security forces overran a militant camp near Pakistani Kashmir's main city this weekend and seized Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged mastermind of the recent deadly attack on Mumbai which left nearly 200 dead, it has emerged.
The raid was Pakistan's first known response to Indian demands for the arrest of the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, which have sharply raised tensions between south Asia's two nuclear-armed powers.
Backed by a helicopter, the troops grabbed L
akhvi among at least 12 people taken on Sunday from the riverbank camp run by the banned group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistani Kashmir, officials in Islamabad said.
There was a brief clash in the camp near Muzaffarabad before the militants were subdued, said the officials – one from the intelligence agencies and one from a government agency – speaking anonymously.
Indian officials say the sole Mumbai attacker captured alive has told them Lakhvi recruited him for the mission and that Lakhvi and another militant, Yusuf Muzammil, planned the operation. The three-day siege of India's commercial capital that began on the night of 26 November left at least 171 people dead.
Indian police said they had identified the nine dead gunmen, and the places they came from in Pakistan.
Rakesh Maria, lead investigator for Mumbai police, said three suspects including one in custody were from Okara district, three from Multan, two from Faisalbad and one from Sialkot. He identified the leader as Ismail Khan, from Dera Ismail Khan, a city in North-west Frontier Province.
Pakistan's military said in a statement: "This is an intelligence-led operation against banned militant outfits and organisations.
"There have been arrests and investigations are going on."
A Lashkar spokesman confirmed the jihadi group was targeted.
"Pakistani forces have attacked our camps in Muzaffarabad under pressure from the US and India," Abdullah Ghaznavi said by telephone.
He denied the group was involved in the Mumbai attack.
It was not immediately clear what Pakistan intended to do with Lakhvi.
Pakistan and India do not have an extradition treaty. Last week, President Asif Ali Zardari indicated anyone arrested in Pakistan in connection with the attacks would be tried in Pakistan.
The government convened a rare cabinet-level meeting of the country's defence and intelligence chiefs, but made no official comment on the raid or Lakhvi's arrest.
Later, the government said it was investigating allegations "concerning the involvement of any individual or entity in Pakistan" in the Mumbai attacks.
It said it needed more evidence from India to continue the probe and suggested that a "high-level delegation from Pakistan may visit New Delhi as soon as possible".
The New York Times, citing unidentified American intelligence and counter-terrorism officials, reported yesterday that Lashkar-e-Taiba had gained strength in recent years with the help of Pakistan's spy service, the Directorate for Inter- Services Intelligence.
US officials said the directorate had shared intelligence with and provided protection for the outlawed group, though there is no evidence to link the spy service to the Mumbai attacks.
Islamabad's young civilian government has denied any of its state agencies were involved in the Mumbai attacks, but said it was possible that the militants were Pakistanis. It has pledged to co-operate with India, noting it, too, is a victim of terrorism.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars over the past 60 years, two over Kashmir. In 2001, an attack by suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militants on the parliament building in New Delhi brought the countries close to conflict.
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