11 Dec 2008

India to tighten up security

9:08 pm on 11 December 2008

The Indian government has announced a number of steps to strengthen internal security after the Mumbai attacks.

Interior Minister P Chidambaram told parliament that a national investigative agency would be set up and coastal security would be boosted, the BBC reports.

He said more commandos would be trained and anti-terror laws beefed up.

It is the government's first detailed response to the public outcry over the attacks which, according to the minister, left 164 dead.

The minister said detailed evidence gathered from the bodies of the nine dead gunmen and boats that they had used to travel to Mumbai indicated that they were Pakistani nationals belonging to the militant group the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He identified the lone surviving gunmen, now in police custody, as Mohammed Ajmal Amir.

On Thursday, a judge remanded the suspect until 24 December.

Pakistan denies any involvement in the attacks, but has promised to co-operate with the Indian investigation.

It has been under tremendous Indian and American pressure to act on allegations that the Mumbai atrocities were linked to Pakistan.

On Sunday, Pakistani security forces raided the main Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.