Pakistan Targets Militants After Mumbai Attacks

Pakistan's military says it has launched operations against militants suspected of being involved in last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed at least 170 people.

The army says it is going after what it calls "barred militant groups," which is seen by many as a reference to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Kashmiri separatist group that India and the United States say was behind the carnage in Mumbai.

It was just a few hours into the three-day siege of Mumbai when India pointed the finger of responsibility toward neighboring Pakistan, and Lashkar-e-Taiba in particular. Both India and the U.S. have kept pressure on Pakistan to take action against the group for its alleged role.

On Sunday, Pakistani soldiers surrounded a Lashkar-e-Taiba compound near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Soldiers fought the militants and arrested several suspects; that much is confirmed.

What is not as clear is exactly who was arrested. Initial reports said that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was detained. India believes Lakhvi was the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks, and New Delhi also accuses him of being behind other spectacular attacks, including the 2006 bombing of commuter trains in Mumbai. The Pakistani government, however, still has not confirmed that Lakhvi was detained by security forces — and those initial reports about his arrest are now being rewritten.

A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba's political wing condemned the raid and suggested the Pakistani government was doing India's bidding. Many people in Pakistan question whether Lashkar-e-Taiba was involved in the Mumbai attacks, and Pakistan's fledgling civilian government says it is still waiting for proof from India.

The group was banned in 2002 after being accused of involvement in an attack on India's parliament. Since then, its charity wing has changed its name and is still allowed to operate. Analysts say the militant side has gone underground and splintered, moving some of its operations farther south into Pakistan's Punjab province. The sole Mumbai attacker captured in India comes from the Punjab.

On Monday, Pakistan's Cabinet on defense met to discuss the growing tension with its powerful neighbor and rival. It issued a statement afterward saying it renewed its offer to fully cooperate with India in the Mumbai investigation. It's difficult to say whether this assurance or Pakistan's operations against Lashkar-e-Taiba is enough to satisfy New Delhi and Washington.