The Mumbai attacks that killed 165 people last November were partly planned in Pakistan, a top-level Islamabad official said yesterday for the first time.
New Delhi has blamed the bloody 60-hour siege on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and handed over information last month that 背slamabad has been using to investigate the attacks.
?he incident happened in India and part of the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan,?interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters.
It is the first time a senior official in Islamabad has admitted that any planning took place in Pakistan.
A ?irst information report?has been lodged with police and six people are in custody in connection with the attacks, Malik said.
The case was registered with a special investigation unit in Islamabad.
?his FIR has been launched. I want to show all of you, I want to show our nation, I want to show the international community, I want to show all those who have been a victim of terrorism, that we mean business,?he said.
But Malik also named other countries, where he said the plotters had made payment transfers or where equipment used in the attacks was registered.
For example, he said, US$238 was transferred from Spain to acquire a domain name ?used for communication over the Internet ?that was registered in Houston, Texas.
A Pakistani man who was living in Barcelona was repatriated and arrested in connection with the payment, Malik said.
Another domain name used by the attackers was registered in Russia, and a satellite phone registered in a Middle Eastern country, which he declined to name.
Malik said ?oney was paid in Italy,?but it was not immediately clear how much he was referring to or what the money was used for.
Earlier this week, Pakistan said its investigators needed more information to complete its probe into the November siege.
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