India arrests 4 over parliament attack

An injured officer is carried away after Thursday's attack

SRINAGAR, India -- Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say they have arrested four people over a bloody suicide attack on the Indian parliament.

The arrests were made as India gave nuclear neighbor Pakistan an ultimatum to deal with the groups being blamed for that attack and other terrorist activities.

Twelve people, including all five assailants, were killed in a 50-minute gun battle when a suicide squad stormed the parliamentary complex in New Delhi on Thursday.

India has blamed Pakistan-based Islamic guerrilla group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the bloodbath, but the group has denied responsibility.

The four suspects were picked up in Sopore. Two have the same name -- Ashiq Hussain; one of the Hussains is a cable operator and the other is a computer engineer. The others have not been identified.

Several more people have been detained for questioning in New Delhi.

India called on Pakistan on Saturday to respond within days to its demand that it close down the Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups it blames for a string of attacks culminating in an assault on its parliament.

'A lie and baseless'

VIDEO CNN's Satinder Bindra says Indians are demanding revenge for the Thursday assault that one legislator called an 'attack on democracy' (December 14) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Five armed men opened fire in India's parliament building leaving at least 12 people dead. CNN's Satinder Bindra reports (December 13) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Pakistan condemns attack    COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: India Provided by CountryWatch.com    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

Citing "technical evidence," Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh has blamed the parliament attack on 'terrorist' group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

However, a spokesman for the militant group, which is fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, called the accusation "a lie and baseless."

No group has claimed responsibility for the raid that began just before noon Thursday when five gunmen -- armed with AK-47s and explosives -- broke through parliament's outer security in a white government vehicle.

Six security guards and a gardener were killed in the raid along with the five intruders.

The attack outraged Indians, sparking protests on the streets of New Delhi on Friday.

India's neighbor Pakistan joined a group of countries condemning the attack.

Demands

Jumping on the terrorist bandwagon, India has demanded that Pakistan halt the activities of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group and another Islamic militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed.

New Delhi has also called for the group's leaders to be taken into custody, and their funds be frozen.

The two groups are among several fighting for a Kashmir independent of India.

Roughly two-thirds of Kashmir is administered by India, the rest by Pakistan. Both claim the entire region and have fought two of their three wars over it.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed group is accused by India of carrying out a suicide bombing attack against the Jammu-Kashmir state legislature on October that killed 38 people.