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Britons were among the militants arrested for the Bombay attacks, a senior Indian official said yesterday.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, in which Bombay lies, made the claim on an Indian television station.

Patrick Mercer, MP, a former Conservative security spokesman, told The Times that he had been given information that at least two of the terrorists had credit cards and other identifying documents that linked them to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Other reports last night claimed that men from Leeds and Bradford were among the terrorists.

Mr Mercer said he had also been told that the terrorists arrived with only basic communications but had then seized mobile phones and BlackBerries from their hostages and used them to contact each other and monitor world reaction. The claims were not substantiated by official British sources. They said there was no evidence “at this stage” that Britons had taken part, although they acknowledged that events were “moving fast” and more information was emerging.

MI5 and British counter-terrorist police are keeping in close touch with their counterparts in India and are alert to the possibility that Britons with Pakistani origins might have been involved after undergoing terrorist training in Pakistan.

Gordon Brown said that there was no evidence of Britons being involved, and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, told Sky News: “We obviously will want to work very closely with the Indians, but it is too early to say whether or not any of them are British.”

Up to 30 Metropolitan Police antiterrorist specialists have been sent to Bombay, making it one of the largest overseas deployments.

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