Pakistan extends crackdown on Mumbai suspects

PAKISTAN: Under pressure to clamp down on extremists, Pakistan has shut down Islamist Web sites and suspected militant training camps and detained 71 people in a deepening probe into the Mumbai attacks.

Still, a top Pakistani official said authorities needed to further investigate information about the attacks provided by archrival India before it could be used to prosecute suspects in court.

India has blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for killing 164 people in its commercial capital in the November siege that raised tension between South Asia’s nuclear-armed neighbors.

Days after the November attacks, the U.N. Security Council declared that Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity in Pakistan, was merely a front for the outlawed militant organization.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said 71 leaders of the groups had been arrested since then and that another 124 had been placed under surveillance and must register their every move with police.

“The restrictions are so tough. It’s virtual detention,” Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said.

ISLAMABAD, Friday, AP