Summary Lakhvi is accused of planning the terror siege in Mumbai that left 166 dead in 2008.
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani authorities have freed the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on bail, sources said Friday, a move that swiftly drew furious condemnation from India.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused over the terror siege that left 166 dead, was released late on Thursday, according to an official at Adiyala Prison in Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad.
India slammed the release as an "insult" to the victims of the three-day onslaught on its financial capital.
LeT s charitable wing Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) confirmed Lakhvi s release.
"Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been released from jail. He is free now and in a secure place," a senior JuD official told AFP.
"We can t say exactly where is he at the moment for security reasons."
The release comes after nearly four months of wrangling over Lakhvi s detention, after a judge granted him bail in December, sparking an angry response from New Delhi.
The government slapped Lakhvi with a series of detention orders but judges repeatedly cancelled them.
On Thursday the Lahore High Court ordered his release, conditional on a two million rupee ($20,000) bond.
A spokesman for India s home ministry, who asked not to be named, slammed Lakhvi s release.
"This is a very disappointing announcement. An insult to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attack," the spokesman said.
Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan but their cases have made virtually no progress in more than five years.
