Indian police investigating the deadly Mumbai train blasts said yesterday they had arrested two brothers amid reports that one was a suspected senior commander of a top Muslim militant group.
Faizal Sheikh and Muzammil Sheikh were arrested late on Thursday by anti-terrorist investigators after being questioned on suspicion of being members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, according to the Press Trust of India.
A total of eight suspects have now been arrested in connection with the rush-hour train blasts that left 183 dead and more than 800 injured on July 11.
Police said on Wednesday that the bombing team had probably already left the country. They were investigating what role if any the brothers played in the July 11 attacks.
The Times of India said Faizal was suspected of being western India commander for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting against Indian control of part of disputed Kashmir.
Senior Mumbai policeman Jayjit Singh said Faizal and his brother, a software programmer, were to appear in court later yesterday accused of conspiracy in connection with the blasts. He could not yet confirm any links to the Lashkar organization.
"We're interrogating them. We don't know about that. We have just arrested them late in the night -- give us some time," Singh said.
Police have identified Lashkar-e-Taiba as one of the most likely groups behind the bombing, possibly acting in concert with homegrown militants based in Mumbai.
The two brothers, from a Mumbai suburb, had received training with the group in Pakistan and were suspected to have helped send others to camps across the border, PTI said.
Kashmir has been the trigger of two of three wars between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan since 1947.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in