**The bodies of nine gunmen killed in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai have been secretly buried, Indian officials say.**Maharashtra state home minister RR Patil gave no location or date, saying only the burials had been in January.
The men remained unburied for more than a year after Indian Muslims opposed giving them space in their graveyards.
Nobody claimed the bodies. India said the men came from Pakistan but it denied they were its nationals and refused to take their bodies back.
Later, Pakistan admitted the attacks had been partly planned on its soil. The gunmen killed 166 people and the attacks damaged relations between the two countries.
A man alleged to have been the tenth attacker is currently on trial in Mumbai, along with two Indians accused of being accomplices.
The judge is expected to deliver his verdict in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab early next month.
‘Kept secret’
Mr Patil stunned legislators in Mumbai on Tuesday when he made his announcement, the Times of India reports.
“I did not see any need to keep preserving the bodies for a longer time. So, we took the decision to bury the bodies,” he told the state legislative council.
“The matter was deliberately kept a secret from the media and other people. Now the only question that remains is of the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Qasab.”
The question of what to do with the dead militants arose soon after the attacks.
Pakistan flatly refused to take them despite India’s argument that they should go back to the country from which they originated.
Indian Muslims then said they would not allow the bodies of the militants to be buried in their cemeteries because they had gone against the teachings of Islam and killed innocent civilians.
After post-mortem examinations the bodies were taken to a hospital morgue in Mumbai. Police said they had been embalmed and were well preserved.
In November last year Ibrahim Tai, president of the Muslim Council Trust in India, said if the bodies had to be buried, it should be at “an unknown location”.
“We know Indian authorities are stuck as the bodies have not been claimed by Pakistan. If they are buried without leaving any trace, then it is fine with us,” he said.
"We believe that their actions should not be praised or recognised by anyone. If they set up tombs then tourists will visit and people will talk about it. We don’t want that to happen."This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.