By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The terrorists who attacked Mumbai are closely linked to Al Qaeda, a high-ranking Russian secret service source said Thursday.
“Russian secret services have information suggesting that the groups that attacked Mumbai had contact with Al Qaeda,” the source said.
“In particular, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. This group’s militants undergo special training in Al Qaeda camps on the border between Pakistan and India.”
The source also said that the Indian authorities had earlier considered the group an ordinary “criminal” gang.
He said Russian secret services had not so far received any request to assist their Indian colleagues in the investigation into the attacks.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied involvement in the attacks.
A series of terrorist attacks were carried out in Mumbai Wednesday, killing over 100 people and leaving over 300 injured.
Terrorists armed with submachine guns and grenades attacked two five-star hotels, the largest railway terminus, a cinema, and a hospital. Indian authorities said 125 people died and 327 were injured in the attacks.
People who escaped from the hotels described the militants as young men speaking Hindi or Urdu, and said they had attempted to round up all the British and American guests.
A previously unknown Islamist group calling itself the “Deccan Mujahideen” has claimed responsibility for the attacks.