September 21, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 20, 1429

NEW DELHI, Sept 20: Indian Mujahideen that claimed responsibility for last week’s deadly bomb blasts in New Delhi is supported by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba, Delhi police said on Saturday.

This is the first time India has linked the serial blasts, which claimed at least 24 lives, to the Pakistan-based group which is also battling Indian troops in occupied Kashmir.

Lashkar-i-Taiba “was providing total support to the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and the Indian Mujahideen,” Karnal Singh, joint commissioner of Delhi police, told reporters.

In the past, New Delhi has blamed the vast majority of previous attacks on Indian soil on groups either based in, or directly supported by Pakistan.

The Indian Mujahideen first came to public attention last November following serial blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh in which at least 13 people died.

Meanwhile, police launched an intense search across the Indian capital for two suspected extremists who escaped during a gunbattle.

The massive hunt for the two militant suspects came as police said the group that claimed responsibility was supported by the Lashkar-i-Taiba.—AFP