India has buried bodies of Mumbai attackers

The bodies of nine gunmen killed in the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai were buried by officials earlier this year, a top government minister said.

The bodies of nine gunmen killed in the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai were buried by officials earlier this year, a top government minister said.

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The bodies of the men had been kept in a hospital morgue in Mumbai until January this year when they were buried at an undisclosed location, R.R. Patil, the home minister of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is capital, told the state assembly on Tuesday. He gave no other details.

Muslim organizations in Mumbai had earlier refused to allow the bodies to be buried in Islamic cemeteries saying that the attackers had brought disrepute to the religion.

A special court in Mumbai will announce a verdict in May in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani that Indian investigators allege is the only surviving gunman from the rampage that killed 166 people in India's financial hub. Also on trial are two Indian co-defendants accused of helping plot the attacks. All three are charged with 12 criminal counts, including murder and waging war against India. If convicted they could face the death penalty.

The assault in Mumbai, which India blames on the Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, lasted nearly three days and paralyzed the city.