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Page last updated at 13:17 GMT, Tuesday, 2 December 2008

India asks Pakistan for fugitives

Taj Palace hotel in Mumbai
Several key sites in Mumbai were targeted in the attacks

India has asked Pakistan to hand over 20 fugitives from Indian law who it believes are settled in Pakistan.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the names were given during a formal protest to the high commissioner of Pakistan over the attacks in Mumbai.

It was unclear what links those on the list had to the attacks. Pakistan says it is studying India's request. It has offered a "joint investigation".

Tensions have risen between the nations since the attacks that left 188 dead.

Twenty-two foreigners were among those killed and more than 200 people were injured.

Separately, dramatic new CCTV footage has been released of the firefight between militants and Indian police at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) last Wednesday night.

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India's NDTV has broadcast CCTV from inside Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the night of the attacks

Indian officials have repeatedly said in recent days there is evidence that the militants behind the attacks had Pakistani links.

One gunman survived and is in police custody. Indian media reports say Azam Amir Qasab is from Pakistan and linked to the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, or Army of the Pure. The group denies involvement.

Islamabad has also denied any involvement and warned against letting "miscreants" inflame tensions in the region.

KEY NAMES
Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim (above): Alleged underworld don blamed for serial bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that left at least 250 dead
Maulana Masood Azhar: Muslim cleric freed from jail in India in exchange for passengers on a hijacked plane in 1999
Hafiz Saeed: Head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa group and regarded as founder and spiritual leader of militants Lashkar-e-Toiba

India's new home minister has vowed to "respond with determination and resolve" to the crisis.

Palaniappan Chidambaram said: "This is a threat to the very idea of India, very soul of India."

But Mr Mukherjee said on Tuesday that India was not considering a military option.

The attackers in Mumbai opened fire in several locations, including a railway station, a popular restaurant, a hospital, two hotels and a Jewish centre.

The attacks on the two hotels - the Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi-Trident - and the Jewish centre resulted in nearly three days of running battles between elite commandos and the gunmen before the sites were secured.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit India on Wednesday and the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says India will present its case against Pakistan and try to persuade Washington to apply diplomatic pressure on Islamabad to comply with its demands.

'Strong action'

"We have asked for the arrest and handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitive of Indian law," Mr Mukherjee told reporters in the Indian capital, Delhi.

Indian media reports say the names include alleged underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who Delhi says lives in Karachi. Pakistani officials deny it.

CAPTURED GUNMAN
Undated photo of Azam Amir Qasab in hospital
Suspect named as Azam Amir Qasab, 21
Fluent English speaker
Told police he is from Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province
Said the attackers took orders from handlers in Pakistan

Much of the list appears to be based on one issued after the attacks on the Indian parliament in 2001.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not respond to the list request but said Pakistan was offering "a joint investigating mechanism and a joint commission to India".

"We are ready to jointly go into the depth of this issue and we are ready to compose a team that could help you," he said on Tuesday.

He said now was not the time for a "blame game, taunts [and] finger-pointing".

The BBC's David Loyn in Delhi says the offer is unlikely to satisfy the demands made by India for a far tougher response towards militants based in Pakistan.

With embarrassing revelations about intelligence failures, and general elections due next year, the Indian government is under severe political pressure to be seen to be making a robust response.

On Monday, India's foreign ministry told Pakistan's high commissioner that Delhi expected "strong action would be taken against those elements, whosoever they may be, responsible for this outrage".

A spokesman for the Pakistani high commission played down the meeting, saying discussions were held in a "cordial atmosphere".

Amid the growing anger at the Indian government's handling of the attacks, the home minister and the chief and deputy chief ministers of Maharashtra state all submitted resignations.

But Pakistan and India have refrained from the kind of rhetoric that led to the major military escalation after the 2001 Delhi parliament assault.

 Map of Mumbai showing location of attacks



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