Pakistan puts Lashkar-e-Taiba founder under house arrest

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (Reuters) Pakistani authorities have put the founder and former head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, group's spokesman said today.

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed resigned almost five years ago from Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group suspected of involvement in the Indian rail blasts of July 11 that killed over 180 people, to become head of a charity called Jamaat-ud-Dawa, regarded as its sister organisation.

The United States has designated both as terrorist organisations.

''They informed us last night that Hafiz (Saeed) could not leave his residence and this restriction is for one month,'' Yahya Mujahid, Jamaat-ud-Dawa's spokesman told Reuters.

The charity had been banned from all public activities.

Reuters MS DB0917