December 06, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 7, 1429

VIENNA / MUMBAI, Dec 5: Austria is looking into whether militants who besieged Mumbai last week used an Austrian telephone number to communicate during the attacks, the interior ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said it was tipped off about the possible link by a foreign intelligence agency on Thursday.

“We are now working on two levels. We have asked for more information from Interpol and the Indian authorities and we will try and find out where the number first originated from,” ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia said.

Indian accomplice

There was evidence of some Indian complicity in the attacks, police in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh said on Friday.

In February, police arrested an LeT-linked Indian named Faim Ansari after an attack on a police station. He was carrying maps of Mumbai, Special Task Force chief Brij Lal said.

“Ansari, who was later handed over to the Maharashtra police, carried some road maps highlighting several important landmarks of south Mumbai that became the target of last week’s terrorist attack,” he said.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria said Ansari was in jail in UP.

Gunmen still out there?

Several attackers might have survived the siege of Mumbai, analysts said.

“I think there are more. My sources say (there were) at least 23 of the gunmen,” said Farhana Ali, a former CIA and Rand Corp counterterrorism analyst and expert. —Agencies