WASHINGTON
The U.S. said Friday it is “gravely concerned” about a Pakistani court’s release order for a key suspect in the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks.
"Terrorist attacks are an assault on the collective safety and security of all countries," said State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke. “Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators, financiers, and sponsors of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice, and we urge Pakistan to follow through on that commitment to insure (sic) justice for the 166 innocent people, including six Americans, who lost their lives."
At least 300 others were also injured in the attack.
The detention of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a leader of the militant group Jamat-ud-Dawah, formerly known as Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, was declared illegal Thursday and the Lahore High Court ordered authorities to release him if he was not facing trial in any other case.
Lakhvi is already on bail in the Mumbai attack case but was detained by security forces under rules that allow the government to detain citizens for public safety.
His detention was also declared illegal by the Islamabad High Court last month but the government failed to release him.
India has claimed the militant group worked with Pakistani intelligence agencies to carry out the attacks, a claim Pakistan denies.
