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Wed, Dec 10 08:02 AM

The 10 men who conducted the attacks in Mumbai belonged to a group of 30 recruits selected for suicide missions and the whereabouts of the other 20 are unknown, the New York Times reported.

India has no reason to believe the other 20 are in India, but that could be a possibility, the newspaper's website (www.nytimes.com) quoted Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner Deven Bharti as saying on Tuesday.

"Another 20 were ready to die," Bharti said. "This is the very disturbing part of it."

It was the first time Indian police had disclosed the larger number of suicide recruits from the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. They say only 10 gunmen took part in the Nov. 26-29 attacks in Mumbai that killed 171 people and raised tensions between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan.

Information about the other recruits came from the sole surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was arrested during the attacks and has been in police custody since then.

The 30 recruits were given highly specialised training, including marine combat skills, Bharti said.

Once Lashkar leaders had selected Kasab and his nine fellow attackers, they were kept sequestered in a house for three months. They were then divided into two-man teams, each team assigned a different target within Mumbai to attack -- information they were forbidden from sharing with one another, Bharti said.

They never saw the other 20 trainees again, Bharti told the Times, according to information provided by Kasab.

NEW SUSPECT NAMED

Indian police on Tuesday identified for the first time a fifth suspect in their probe into the attacks and disclosed new details of the weaponry they used.

The new suspect was arrested in February along with Indian-born Fahim Ansari, who was caught carrying maps that highlighted a number of the city landmarks that were hit in the assault, lead Mumbai police investigator Rakesh Maria said.

The man, who police identified only as Sabauddin, has been in jail in Uttar Pradesh with Ansari since they were arrested for an attack on a reserve police camp, Maria told a news conference.

Investigators want to question them about their links to homegrown Islamist militant groups and the Mumbai attacks.

Two others have been arrested for helping the gunmen get mobile phone cards, along with Kasab.

"What we have learned from Kasab is they were told: open random fire, kill as many people as you can, take hostages, then go to a vantage location and stay put," Maria said.

Maria on Tuesday also identified the nine gunmen that were killed and released pictures of eight of them. One was burned too badly, so his picture was withheld, he said.

Each of the 10 gunmen was armed with about a dozen grenades, a 9 mm pistol with two magazines, one AK-47 assault rifle with about seven magazines and 100-150 rounds of ammunition, he said.

"They called themselves fedayeen squads," he said, referring to the term for suicide attackers.

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD - India pointed a finger on Friday at Pakistani-linked "elements" for the attacks in Mumbai, raising the prospect of a breakdown in the nuclear-armed rivals' peace efforts.

An estimated 25 men armed with assault rifles and grenades,

at least some of whom arrived by sea, fanned out across Mumbai on Wednesday night to attack sites popular with tourists and businessmen, including the city's top two luxury hotels.

Police said at least 121 people were killed.

The attack came after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated last year, had made bold moves to improve ties with India.

In an unprecedented move, India said on Friday the head of the Pakistani military's Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI) had agreed to go to India to share information about the attacks, at the request of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

On Thursday, Singh pinned blame on militant groups based in India's neighbors, usually an allusion to old rival Pakistan.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was more explicit on Friday. "Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Mukherjee told a news conference in New Delhi.

He urged Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure that supports militants.

PAKISTAN DENIAL

Pakistan has denied involvement and condemned the attacks. It has also offered full cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Zardari telephoned Singh earlier on Friday to again condemn the attacks, saying "non-state actors" were responsible.

"Non-state actors wanted to force upon the governments their own agenda but they must not be allowed to succeed," Zardari's office cited him as telling Singh.

The president's office did not mention Singh's reference to an external link or to his warning of "a cost" if India's neighbors did not stop their territory being used to launch attacks.

MUMBAI, India -- Fresh explosions have rocked Mumbai hotels as Indian police battle to release hostages the day after gunmen carried out attacks across the city, killing more than 100 people.

Fresh explosions have been heard at the Taj Mahal hotel, where police are trying to free hostages.

A standoff continued at the Oberoi Hotel, where about 100 members of a specialized unit of the Indian police undertook an operation to rescue four to five foreigners hostage on the 19th floor.

CNN producer Phil O'Sullivan reported a "very loud explosion came from right deep in the hotel."

At the nearby Taj Mahal hotel, CNN's Sara Sidner reported another blast had rocked the building. Watch more on explosion at hotel »

As concerned family members stood outside, medics took stretchers into the hotel and brought out bodies covered in white sheets. Police were going floor to floor to flush out gunmen. About five of them were believed to be holed up in the Taj; another three in Oberoi, Maharashtra state officials said.

Maharashtra official Bhushan Gagrani said the Taj situation was "almost sorted out" and that police expected to clear the Oberoi by tonight. Hostages remained, but he didn't say how many. Read more from witnesses

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggested the group behind the attacks was based outside India and probably had "external linkages."

The death toll from the series of coordinated attacks was at 101, including at least six foreigners, by Thursday afternoon authorities said. The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed one of its citizens had been killed. The nationalities of the others was still being checked.

Another 314 people were wounded in the attacks, including seven British and two Australian citizens. Watch more on who is responsible »

In addition, at least nine gunmen were killed in fighting with police.

Also among the dead was Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Mumbai police's anti-terror squad, and as many as 11 police officers. Watch as new gunfire erupts at the Taj hotel »

An American woman who was still inside the Taj with her husband told CNN by phone Thursday that television feeds into the room had stopped and she did not know what was going on.

"We have water and we're hunkered down and patient and ready to wait it out," she said. "We're OK. Last night was a different story, but today we're OK."

The woman, whom CNN is not identifying so as not to disclose her location, said she heard gunfire outside her room Wednesday night and "a man with an American accent screaming for help."

Authorities found 8 kilograms (17 pounds) of RDX, one of the most powerful kinds of military explosives, at a restaurant near the Taj, indicating that the attackers may have been planning more violence.

Gunmen also remained holed up in a building called Chabad House, where several Jewish families live. Rabbi Gabriel Holtzberg, the city's envoy for the community, was being held inside with his wife, a member of the Hasidic Jewish movement said. The couple's 18-month-old baby was released unharmed. Read more on group claiming responsibility

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Igal Palmor told CNN that the situation at the house was unclear.

Two women and an infant were seen escaping from the building but three to four residents remained captive inside, an Indian official said.

Police said gunmen fired indiscriminately from the building. Stray bullets killed a couple in their home and a 16-year-old boy who stepped outside, police said.

Two women and an infant were seen escaping from the building but three to four residents remained captive inside, said Johny Joseph, the state's chief secretary.

Police surrounded the building and exchanged gunfire in which one of the gunmen reportedly was shot, CNN's sister station CNN-IBN said.

A standoff at a fourth location -- the Cama Hospital for women and infants -- appeared to have been resolved by Thursday morning, CNN-IBN reported. It was not immediately known whether gunmen at the hospital fled or were killed.

Authorities locked down Mumbai and asked residents to stay inside. The stock market in the city -- India's financial hub -- was closed, as were schools and colleges. The city is also home to Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry. Watch the attacks on various key Mumbai sites »

Government officials said the attacks caught them completely unaware.

Police say the attackers came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument.

Of the nine suspects arrested in connection with the attacks, seven are fishermen. Police also found a boat loaded with explosives near the Taj, which is located on the waterfront.

"Those men were wearing jackets and they carried big big bags," one fisherman told CNN-IBN.

Said another: "We asked, 'Where are you coming from?' They said, 'Go do your work.'"

The gunmen then hijacked cars -- including a police van -- and broke up into at least three groups to carry out the attacks, police said.

One group headed toward the Cafe Leopold, a popular hangout for Western tourists, firing indiscriminately at passers-by on the street. They then opened fire and lobbed grenades at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a Victorian building. Watch analysis on what the intentions were behind the attacks »

As police rushed to the scene of the attacks, gunmen attacked the Cama Hospital. Two other groups attacked the Oberoi and Taj hotels.

A man told local television that he was in the Oberoi around 10 p.m. when gunmen entered the lobby and began rounding up guests, asking for anyone with a U.S. or British passport and taking about 15 of them hostage.

Bhushan Gagrani, a spokesman for Maharashtra, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But several Indian news outlets reported receiving e-mails from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen that claimed responsibility for the attacks. CNN was not able to verify the reports.

Reaction from the United Nations, United States and United Kingdom was swift as world leaders joined in condemning the attacks. Read more on the international reaction

India has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a string of bombs that ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms during rush hour in July 2006. About 209 people were killed in that attack.