Pakistan Frees Mumbai Attack Mastermind Suspect

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The man accused of being the mastermind of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai has been released on bail by a Pakistan court.

The assault on India's financial capital resulted in the deaths of 166 people and seriously increased tensions between the two nuclear powers.

The lawyer for Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi revealed the Lahore High Court move, saying: "Lakhvi has been released and he is out of the jail now. I don't know where he will go now."

Lakhvi's release comes despite furious earlier protests from New Delhi which complained bitterly when a judge first granted him bail in December.

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Gallery: 2008: Mumbai Terror Attacks

From 2008: Scores of people have died and hundreds more have been injured in a series of terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai. Guests had to be rescued from the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel after teams of heavily armed gunmen stormed the building.

Another guest is helped down from the fourth floor.

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An Indian National security guard runs for cover opposite the hotel.

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People duck as gunshots are fired from inside the building.

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A fireman speaks with foreign tourists who were rescued from the Taj.

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The Pakistan government subsequently issued a series of detention orders which judges then cancelled.

The latest bail order is conditional on a $20,000 (£14,000) bond.

India has called the decision to release him "an insult".

"This is a very disappointing announcement. An insult to the victims of 26/11 Mumbai attack.

"The global community should take serious note of Pakistan's double-speak on terrorism," said a government official.

India blames the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attack in which 10 gunmen crept into the city by boat and took part in a terror and killing spree over a three-day period.

India says Lakhvi - who was arrested in 2009 over the tragedy - was the organisation's boss and has accused Pakistan of prevaricating over trials in connection with Lakhvi and six other suspects.

The suspects were charged in Pakistan but no-one has been brought to trial in more than five years.

India, which has urged Pakistan to either hand the suspects over or put them on trial, accuses its neighbour of playing a "double game" over terrorism, suggesting the country is supporting groups that may be useful for its own political gains.

Relations between the two countries - which have had three wars over a bitter dispute over Kashmir since independence in 1947 - are at an all-time low.

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