Official: Pakistani confesses to Mumbai attacks

updated 11:48 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A militant arrested in Pakistan has confessed involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks and is giving investigators details of the plot, a senior Pakistani government official said Wednesday.

The revelation could add to pressure on Islamabad to either bring Zarar Shah and other suspects to trial or extradite them to India.

"(Shah) has made some statement that he was involved," said the government official, without providing specific details. "I can tell you that he is singing."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Shah's confession was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

A senior intelligence officer said Shah and another suspect, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, were cooperating with investigators, but cautioned authorities had not reached a definite conclusion as to their involvement yet.

He too asked for anonymity. Indian officials were not immediately available for comment.

164 people killed
Gunmen targeted 10 sites including two five-star hotels and a Jewish center during the November siege on Mumbai's financial capital, killing 164 people in a three-day reign of terror.

India and the United States say the militants who planned and carried out the attacks were Pakistani and are demanding Islamabad take action against those responsible.

The official also told The Associated Press that India has shared some evidence of its suspicions but he said it was "very very little." Pakistan's president and other top officials have said India has yet to provide any evidence.

The intelligence officer also said the country had received "information" on the attacks from other, unspecified, nations.

"They (India) gave us a list of numbers and phone calls, most of them useless," the official said.

Shah and Lakhvi have been identified as members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned militant group accused by India of carrying out the Mumbai attacks and others on its soil.

They were taken into custody soon after the attacks.

India has said both were involved in the planning of the siege, but have given few details of their role and made no evidence public.

Accusations of Lashkar-e-Taiba's involvement have put Islamabad in a difficult position because the group is widely believed to have been created by Pakistan intelligence agencies to battle Indian-rule in Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed by Pakistan and India.

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