Terrorists received logistical support from locals: police

Mumbai, Nov 28 (UNI) The terrorists, who have laid siege to the city since Wednesday night, had received logistic support in the form of bags and dry fruits from some local contacts, sources in the police revealed today.

The sources said initial reports had suggested that the terror group had come to the metropolis in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. But those reports might be wrong. The new leads suggest that the group could have actually entered the commercial capital of the country as late as early Wednesday morning.

Police and Central security personnel have arrested at least three Pakistanis including Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot near Multan in Pakistan's Punjab province. All the three belong to the suicide squad of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Their arrest has again revealed the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in the terror strikes. The militants of the organisation had earlier carried out an attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat in 2002.

The militants told interrogators that 12 of them had left in a merchant vessel from the port city of Karachi, which was on its way to Vietnam. They later got down from that vessel into small boats and rowed 10 nautical miles into the Indian waters, upto the Gateway of India.

The dozen ultras then split into at least five groups that wreaked havoc in two five star hotels -- Taj and Trident (Oberoi). The terrorists were carrying dry fruits, suggesting they were prepared for a long-drawn battle, the sources said.

UNI ST/GS SSS RR AS1824