Britain investigating Mumbai terrorist incident

Madrid: British authorities are investigating reports that suspects involved in the Mumbai terrorist attack were British or had ties to Britain, officials said on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office in London said the British had opened an investigation related to the attacks in India but cautioned that the reports had not been confirmed.

A report on Indian television quoted Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of India's Maharashtra state, saying two British nationals had been among the gunmen arrested.

In addition, a German European Union legislator trapped overnight in one of the hotels told reporters upon her return to Brussels, on Friday that she had heard reports that Britons were involved.

It appeared her sources were not government officials or firsthand witnesses but Indian journalists.

Asked on Friday whether Britons were involved in the deadly assault on an area of India's financial capital that is popular with tourists, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his foreign minister said it was too early to draw conclusions.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about the names or origins or sources of this attack at this stage," Foreign Minister David Miliband said.

"Obviously, the Indian authorities are focused on ending the incident before they are focusing on where it came from. I think it's right to say that at least one of the perpetrators is still alive and being questioned by the Indian authorities. And obviously we've got to follow that up, but it's too early to say where the people came from."