Pak FIA finds Bangladeshi connection in Mumbai terror attacks

Islamabad, Feb 3 (ANI): Pakistan's premier law enforcement agency, the Federal Investigation Agency, which is probing the Mumbai terror attacks has found that one of the terrorists involved in the November 26 carnage was of Bangladesh origin.

FIA investigators probing the Mumbai attacks are closing in on a Bangladesh connection to the terrorist strike where they have evidence not only of the involvement of a banned militant organisation Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), but also of its part in the planning of the attack and training of the terrorists.

A reference to this regard is likely to be made in the FIA's report that would be shared soon with India as findings of the preliminary investigations, The Dawn reported.

The keenly awaited report is likely to say that the Mumbai attacks were handiwork of "international network of Muslim fundamentalists" present in South Asia and spreading all the way to Middle East; and may build the case for regional anti-terror cooperation.

Although, the details of the report are being kept as a tightly guarded secret by the Interior Ministry, but those privy to it say that it would emphasise that the Mumbai incident is not strictly a Pakistan-India issue.

The investigators are intensely probing if at least one of the Mumbai attackers was of Bangladesh origin.

Although, this Bangladesh connection has recently come up quite prominently in the investigations, but there are also clear indications that some of the planning for the attacks was done in Dubai and there is also an element of local Indian support as well.

Sources close to the investigations say the two sets of questions given to India by Pakistan also touched on this aspect.

India has responded to only one set of questions and that also indirectly through US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), while reply to the second set of questions is still awaited.

The investigators further suggest that the attack may be remotely linked to al-Qaeda's international terror network. (ANI)