India arrested three men in connection with bombings last week in Mumbai that killed more than 180 men, and urged Pakistan yesterday to hand over a top Kashmiri militant as a gesture in the fight against terrorism.
The three men, all Indian Muslims, were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the attacks on July 11 on trains and stations in India's financial hub, a police official said.
"Yesterday ... we arrested three suspected accused in connection with the bomb blast case," Mr KP Raghuvanshi, chief of Mumbai's anti-terrorism squad, told a news conference.
Two of them were picked up from the Madhubani district of eastern Bihar state, Mr Raghuvanshi said, but gave no details of the arrest of the third. However, local TV said the third man was arrested in Mumbai.
Asked which organisations these men belonged to, Mr Raghuvanshi said their links appeared to come from Nepal and Bangladesh, but added they were also in some way connected to Pakistan.
He did not elaborate.
But the Indian Foreign Ministry said Pakistan must arrest Mr Syed Salahuddin, head of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the largest militant group active in Indian Kashmir, and hand him over to New Delhi.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna also said New Delhi also wanted Pakistan to ban another militant group, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the United States says is a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group Indian officials say probably carried out or planned the Mumbai attacks.