Pakistan confirms Lashkar militant arrests

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Pakistan's defense minister says two top leaders of the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, suspected in the Mumbai terror attacks, have been arrested.

Ahmad Mukhtar, speaking Tuesday on Indian television, for the first time confirmed Pakistan had moved against the group, which operates in the disputed state of Kashmir and which India says is responsible for killing nearly 170 people in last month's attacks, The New York Times reported.

Mukhtar said Lashkar-e-Toiba's leader, Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, had been arrested, as well as a second militant leader, Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Muhammad, another banned militant group based in Pakistan, the Times said.

Lakhvi "has been picked up," Mukhtar told CNN-IBN. "About Masood Azhar, I don't think we had decided yesterday to pick him up but our president is determined that we remove all irritants and as a small irritant he has been picked up."

Mukhtar also told viewers that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was "determined that we must cooperate with India" in investigating the Mumbai attacks, the Times reported.