Pakistan was holding in custody the ringleader and five other suspects in the conspiracy behind a militant attack that killed 179 people in Mumbai, the top Pakistani interior ministry official said yesterday.

"Some part of the conspiracy has taken place in Pakistan," Rehman Malik, adviser to the prime minister on the interior, told a news conference, detailing how the gunmen had sailed from Karachi to carry out the attack on the Indian financial capital between Nov 26-28.

Malik said six suspects were in custody and two were known but still at large, and the findings were shared with India's envoy in Islamabad, High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal.