MUMBAI, Dec 18: Two suspected members of a militant group blamed for the Mumbai attacks appeared in court here on Thursday and were remanded in police custody for questioning, a senior officer said.

A city magistrate granted detectives until December 31 to hold and quiz Indian nationals Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin about their alleged connection to last month’s attacks, police commissioner Deven Bharti said.

Ansari was arrested in February and accused of being trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba after an attack on a police camp in northern India. He has been in jail in northern Uttar Pradesh state ever since.

Police say he had in his possession hand-drawn maps of Mumbai landmarks, some of which were targeted in the November 26-29 attacks. Sabauddin is said to be an accomplice.

Although both were already being held behind bars in UP, the move to secure custody for the pair in Mumbai was a legal requirement to state the grounds on which they were being held and questioned.

Mumbai police are probing whether the 10 militants who killed more than 160 people had any local help.—AFP