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Updated Tuesday, December 2, 2008 4:45 pm TWN, By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, AP India demands Pakistan hand over suspected terroristsA list of about 20 names was given to Pakistan's high commissioner to India during a meeting Monday night, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. India has already demanded Pakistan take "strong action" against those responsible for the attacks, and the U.S. has pressured Islamabad to cooperate. The moves come as the government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures after suspected Muslim militants carried out a three-day attack across India's financial capital, killing 172 people and wounding 239. The 10 gunmen had trained for months in camps operated by a banned Pakistani militant group before slipping into Mumbai from the sea, the only known surviving attacker told police. India's foreign intelligence agency received information as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter. The information was then relayed to domestic security officials, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk publicly about the details. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, met Tuesday with top security aides to review any government lapses. Among the prisoners sought by India is Dawood Ibrahim - a powerful gangster, the alleged mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bombings, and India's most-wanted man. Also included is Masood Azhar, a terror suspect freed from an Indian prison in exchange for the release of hostages aboard an Indian Airlines aircraft hijacked on Christmas Day 1999. "We will await the response from Pakistan," Mukherjee said. In Mumbai, from the FBI and Britain's Scotland Yard met with top Indian police as they prepared to help collect evidence, a police official said. |
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