Pakistan court charges Mumbai attack suspects

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court indicted seven Pakistani suspects on terror charges Wednesday in connection with last year's attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, a defence lawyer said.

Pakistani security agencies have also detained a former army major for possible links with two men arrested in Chicago on terrorism charges, an army spokesman said.

According to U.S. court documents, the Chicago pair discussed a planned attack on a Danish newspaper with members of the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been blamed for the Mumbai attack a year ago in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan is under pressure from both India, which wants it to crack down on militants operating in disputed Kashmir, and from the United States, which wants it to root out Taliban fighters to help put down an insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.

A lawyer for one of the seven men charged with taking part in the Mumbai attack said they had pleaded not guilty. They are allegedly linked to LeT.

"The statements recorded and the evidence produced against the accused are contradictory to the charges," lawyer Shahbaz Rajput told Reuters.

India has refused to resume peace talks with Pakistan and sought to bring international pressure on Islamabad to act against militants operating from its soil, including LeT.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking in Washington, said he had not yet seen the reports of the seven indictments "but I welcome every step that leads in that direction."