Nine Pakistan-based terrorists were involved in the 7/11 attacks on Mumbai trains, National Security Advisor (NSA) M.K. Narayanan declared here Wednesday.
'The investigation into this incident is complete. The involvement of nine Pakistan-based jehadi terrorists, of whom one died, has been confirmed,' he said during his address to an international seminar here on 'Growing Challenges of Terrorism with special reference to railways'.
Intelligence experts, Narayanan said, after piecing together the information obtained from the train bombings and probes into other terrorist attacks, had reached a 'conclusion about the existence of a common thread linking attacks on mass transport networks, such as the Mumbai blasts, with the attacks on religious places like Varanasi and the Ram Janambhoomi Complex' and the blast in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market.
According to Narayanan, over 20 Indians involved in carrying out the Mumbai attacks had been arrested, but the Pakistanis involved had managed to escape to their country.
The probe into the attacks, Narayanan said, had revealed the Pakistanis had come into India from Nepal and Bangladesh, as also by sea, and that they were directly involved in planting the bombs.
A great deal of 'advance planning and careful preparation' had gone into the attacks, which were masterminded by 'well-known jehadi leaders in Pakistan like Azam Cheema', the NSA maintained.