Pictures Of Mumbai terror boat

Pictures have been released of the fishing boat thought to have been used to launch the Mumbai massacre.

The abandoned trawler was found a few miles off the Mumbai coast following the attacks that left nearly 200 people dead in India's financial capital.

The Kuber was empty and had no crew. The body of its skipper Amar Narayan, 38, was found with his limbs tied and throat cut.

It is thought the 10 terrorists hijacked the 75ft-long fishing boat, killed its five crew, and used it to launch inflatable dinghies to the seafront at Colaba.

A satellite phone discovered on board could prove the key piece of evidence in finding out who the Mumbai terrorists were - and who was funding them.

Intelligence agencies are now scanning the phone's records to track the places where calls were made to and from the vessel.

One report in India says a call was made from the trawler to somewhere in Pakistan, but this has not been confirmed.

Counter terrorism specialist Will Geddes told Sky News Online that this could be the "footprint" that helps police track down the ringleaders.

He said: "Any group is going to have its own tactics, and observing the tactics, looking at the equipment used, even tracing where the explosives were potentially sourced are the components investigators can now go through to try to determine exactly who the people are and where they came from."

Other clues may come from a terrorist who was captured alive near the main railway station in Mumbai.

A local newspaper claims the man is "talking and wants to live", indicating he has perhaps struck a deal with his captors.

But Geddes said the group were very well trained and the information could not necessarily be relied on.

He added: "If this group has been so well prepared, so professional in their planning, there will be disinformation they will be ready to release or give in the event of capture.

"They can't really count on the integrity of the intelligence coming out of this one individual."

Sky's Ashish Joshi, in Mumbai, said the commandos he has spoken to were astonished at the professionalism of the terrorists.

He said: "They knew the terrorists were motivated. But they were shocked they were matched not only in firepower, but in movement.

"That, they say, indicated a very highly trained squad of individuals."

There have been reports that at least two of the terrorists were British, and are believed to be from Bradford.

One newspaper said seven of the gunmen had British links and quoted Indian sources claiming that suspects from Leeds, Hartlepool and Bradford as well as British-born Pakistanis were involved.

But Sky's Lisa Holland, also in Mumbai, said these reports are "being stamped on fairly firmly by the representatives of the Foreign Office who are out here."

She added: "They have been speaking to the police commander and have been told that so far there's no evidence that indicates anyone from Britain.

"That's at this stage, but of course it's at a very, very early stage of the investigation."

Whitehall sources have told Sky that none of the terrorists had any documentation to suggest any British involvement.

Meanwhile, the investigation is continuing in Britain with officers at Heathrow interviewing passengers returning from Mumbai to see if they saw anything.

They are also handing out leaflets - with a confidential anti-terror hotline number - asking them: "Have you returned from Mumbai? Did you see any suspicious activity? Did you witness the attacks?"