UK looking into India's claims that four Mumbai terrorists had "links with Britain"

London, Nov 29 : UK security agencies are reportedly looking into information sent by Indian authorities to establish whether any British Muslims were involved in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Unconfirmed reports from India stated that some of the terrorists were from Dewsbury and Bradford, areas from which some in the Muslim community had left in the past to join jihadist groups abroad. Security officials stated that all leads were be explored but stressed that no arrests had taken place in this country yet in relation to the Mumbai attacks.

According to The Independent, the search to track down the "British connection" in the carnage began after a number of Indian officials claimed that evidence had been found on dead and captured gunmen linking them to the UK.

Senior Whitehall sources confirmed that the police and the security and intelligence services were combing through information sent by Indian authorities to ascertain whether any of the group, which carried out the assault were UK citizens or had visited or lived in this country.

However, the British officials stressed that they had not yet received "hard" evidence that the men were British nationals. "There is a hell of a lot going on at the minute and it is not just a matter of citizenship - that's a bit of a red herring," said one source and added: "We are trying to establish whether any of these men had been in this country and who they lived with, who they associated with, but it is very early days."

So far, at least 155 people have so far died in the multiple attacks, though the Indian government said the death toll could hit 200.

Britain's security agencies confirmed they were looking through intelligence on domestic suspects with overseas extremist links and reviewing tracked telephone calls to see if the "chatter" revealed British citizens were involved in the Mumbai plot. Investigators are said to be concentrating on the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has previously recruited from the UK.

Security officials said it appeared that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), previously known as Jaish-e-Mohammed, was involved in the attack with the newly formed militant group Indian Mujaheddin.

They, however, played down suggestions of a direct al-Qa'ida link.

ANI