Pak briefs visiting FBI chief on developments in Mumbai probe

Pakistan on briefed visiting FBI chief Robert Mueller on its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks and said it was awaiting New Delhi's response to its 30 questions seeking more information on the incident.

Mueller, director of American intelligence agency Federal Bureau of Investigation, who arrived in Pakistan after visiting India, was informed by Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik about the status of the investigation into the Mumbai incident.

Sharing the initial findings of its probe, Malik told Mueller that Pakistan is awaiting India's response to Pakistan's 30 questions that were handed over last month along with its response to the Indian dossier on the incident.

TV channels also quoted official sources as saying that Malik had shared information with Mueller about involvement of a "foreign hand" in suicide bombings and subversive activities in Pakistan, including yesterday's attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

Mueller is heading a team which has held meetings in India and would assist Pakistani investigators in the probe by providing additional inputs.

The sources said Malik also briefed Mueller on the peace deal between authorities and religious hardliners in the Swat valley, while insisting that the deal will not affect the government's resolve to fight terrorism.

Pakistani authorities have so far detained six suspects in connection with the Mumbai attacks. Four of these suspects - Lashker-e-Taiba operatives Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al Qama and Hamad Amin Sadiq – were on Tuesday, remanded to the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency till March 17 by an anti-terrorism judge.

Malik also admitted last month that part of the conspiracy behind the Mumbai incident was hatched on Pakistani soil.