UN sanctions for Pakistan group

The Mumbai attacks left more than 170 people dead

The UN Security Council has added four leaders of a Pakistani group to a list of people facing sanctions for links with al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

The leaders belong to the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group which has been blamed for the recent Mumbai attacks.

The four face an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The Security Council panel also said that the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and subject to sanctions.

The four leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba who have been added to the list by the panel are: Muhammad Saeed, whom the UN names as the group's leader; Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, described as Lashkar's chief of operations; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its finance chief; and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, described as a financier for the group.

The US State Department welcomed the move.

"These actions will limit the ability of known terrorists to travel, acquire weapons, plan, carry out or raise funds for new terrorist attacks," it said in a statement.

Pakistani police say they have been questioning two key Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, in the city of Multan.

But Islamabad has said that any of its citizens believed to be involved in the attacks will be tried in Pakistan.