Pakistanis Crack Down, Nab Accused Mumbai Plotter

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 8, 2008— -- Twelve days after an attack by Pakistani gunmen on the Indian city of Mumbai killed more than 170 people, Pakistan launched raids across the country today targeting the group that India and the United States blames for the attacks.

During one raid on a camp in Pakistani Kashmir, "intelligence-led" forces arrested Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, an operational commander for Lashkar-e-Taiba and one of the alleged ringleaders of the Mumbai attack, government officials tell ABC News.

The crackdown -- which extends from Pakistani Kashmir to the Malakand district of the Northwest Frontier, according to government officials -- comes after considerable pressure from both the United States and India to crack down on terrorists they hold responsible for what has been widely described in India as its 9/11.

The crackdown also came one week after a caller from inside India threatened to attack the terrorist camps if Pakistan itself did not crack down on them. Later described as a "hoax" call by India's foreign minister, Pakistanis maintain it was legitimate and admit they raised their military alert level because of it.

Today's actions are the first concerted effort by Pakistan to respond to the Mumbai attacks, and were twinned with diplomatic overtures.

After a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, the Pakistani foreign ministry released a statement declaring that Pakistan "had initiated investigations on its own into the allegations that have surfaced concerning involvement of any individual or entity in Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks."

The statement also proposed that a "high-level delegation" visit New Delhi to share information and evidence.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the raids "positive steps" and said Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to brief her. Just 24 earlier, Rice said on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" that "this is a time when Pakistan must act."