More evidence of a link between a Pakistan-based Islamist group and last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai has emerged after a leading member of the organisation allegedly admitted his complicity.

Zarar Shah, a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), told investigators that he was in contact with the gunmen involved in the attacks, according to senior Pakistani sources.

Mr Shah was arrested this month along with Zakiaur Rehman, another LeT commander, in a raid on a militant camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Indian and Western security agencies had accused the pair of masterminding the attacks, which claimed the lives of 165 people in India’s commercial capital and stoked tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations.

Mr Shah is said to be the communication chief of LeT, which was outlawed by Pakistan in 2002. But the group continued to operate under the banner of Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Pakistan’s Government ordered the closure of all its offices after the UN Security Council declared it a front for terrorists.

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal