India/Pakistan

Two arrests in Mumbai attacks, Peshawar death toll rises to 27

Article published on the 2008-12-06 Latest update 2008-12-07 09:47 TU

The site of the car bomb explosion in Peshawar, 5 December 2008
(Photo: Reuters)

Indian police on Saturday said they arrested two men who are suspected of supplying mobile phone cards to those who staged the Mumbai attacks. They were arrested in Kolkata for fraud, allegedly having sold two fraudulently acquired cards to the attackers. The arrests are the first publicly announced in connection with the attacks, besides one of the ten gunmen who was captured alive afterwards.

Senior police official Javed Shamim identified the two men as Tousif Rahaman and Sheikh Muktar, who were arrested late Friday “for allegedly providing Sim cards to the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks,” he said.

“Tousif, who was living in the central part of the city [Kolkata], bought about 40 Sim cards from the city, two of which are believed to have been given to the terrorists,” he continued, saying the other man was from Indian Kashmir.

“They are in police custody and being questioned,” said Shamim.

Police say Rahaman fraudulently acquired the cards using false identity documents and sold them to Muktar. The two are being charged with forgery and cheating.

The owners of the stores where the cards were bought are also being questioned.

In Pakistan, police said Saturday they found six more bodies in the aftermath of Friday’s bomb blast in the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, Peshawar, bringing the death toll to 27.

“We found six bodies buried under the debris of two destroyed hotels and one adjoining house,” said local police official Noor Mohammad. “Among the dead was a 12-year-old boy and a woman.”

A fire broke out Saturday morning when an explosion blasted open a gas pipeline. The flames spread to nearby buildings and shops.

“So far no group has claimed responsibility,” reports correspondent Behroz Khan from Peshawar. The government has not fingered any group either, he said, though locals were worried of retaliation following the Mumbai attacks.

"There were fears, and the reports were being published in the local media, that it might happen again in Pakistan as it happened in Mumbai,” said Khan.

He said it looks to be sectarian violence, directed towards the Shia Moslem population, since the target was a Shia place of worship.

“Maybe those who wanted to create some disturbances have struck and they wanted to create sectarian clashes once again,” said Kahn. “It seems that those who wanted to convey the message, were interested to declare sectarian violence.”