Man accused of organizing Mumbai attacks granted bail
The man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 dead has been granted bail in Pakistan.
Lawyer Rizwan Abbasi said a judge found there wasn't enough evidence to keep Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi in custody.
"It may take four or five days for him to be free," Abbasi told the Wall Street Journal.
Prosecutor Mohammad Chaudhry Azhar confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the Islamabad court granted Lakhvi bail. The court session was closed to the media.
A Pakistani Interior Ministry official told CBS News that a government prosecutor opposed the judge's decision.
The 2008 attacks killed 166 people at a train station, a Jewish center and two hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai. India blames a Pakistan-based militant organization for the attacks, which started on Nov. 26 and lasted three days.
Seven men including Lakhvi are facing trial in the incident, which inflamed relations between Pakistan and India.
The news came a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to step up a campaign that, along with U.S. drone strikes, targets militants after Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 148 people Tuesday. Sharif also promised to lift a moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism crimes.
"It's very unfortunate, especially as it comes just after the Peshawar massacre," India's Home Ministry said in a statement about the bail announcement Thursday, The Times of India reported. "Pakistan must appeal in the next court. Pakistan needs to show more seriousness in taking 26/11 case trial to its logical conclusion."
Nine gunmen were killed during the 2008 Mumbai attacks and Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, was executed by India in 2012.
Armed with mobile phones, grenades and automatic weapons, the gunmen entered Mumbai by boat on Nov. 26, 2008, and fanned out across the city. The siege was broadcast live on TV.
A photo of Kasab striding through Mumbai's main train station with an assault rifle became the iconic image of the attacks.
An Indian judge sentenced Kasab to death in May 2010 for waging war against India, murder and terrorism, among other charges. In his confession, Kasab said he was recruited by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani organization. The attackers were in regular phone contact with handlers in Pakistan during the siege.
Contributing: Associated Press