The arrest of three Pakistanis, suspected to be from Lashkar-e-Toiba, in Mumbai points to the banned outfit using cadres based outside India in the terror strikes in the country for the first time since 2002 when it attacked Gujarat's Akshardham temple, official sources said.

Police and Central security personnel have arrested at least three Pakistanis including Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot near Multan in Pakistan's Punjab province, in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks. All the three belong to the suicide squad of Lashkar-e-Toiba, they said.

After being banned by the US and being linked with al-Qaeda, Lashkar had mainly used its Indian contacts which included Indian Mujahideeen to indulge in terror network.

However, this time in Mumbai, the terror group decided to carryout the attack itself as they wanted to strike in a big way, the sources said.

The militants had told interrogators that 12 of them had left in a merchant vessel from the port-city of Karachi, which was on its way to Vietnam, from which they got down and rowed 10 nautical miles into Indian waters upto Gateway of India.

The dozen people split into at least five groups that created havoc in five star hotels -- Taj and Trident (Oberoi). The terrorists were carrying dry fruits, suggesting they were prepared for a long-drawn battle.

The sources said the group was joined by some of the local contacts who provided them logistics like bags and dry fruits, the sources said, adding initial reports suggested that the terror group had come to the metropolis in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

... contd.