The militants killed and thrown off-board four members of Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber' soon after they had hijacked it, while the fifth person, identified as Balwant Tandel, was beheaded as the vessel neared the Mumbai shores, sources said.

In fact, the investigators are now corroborating the information they gathered with that of the version of the arrested Lashker-e-Taiba militant Ajmal Amin Kamal.

So far, it has emerged that Kamal, along with another 11 Lashker cadres, had sailed off the Karachi port city in a merchant vessel and got down at ten nautical miles in Indian

waters.

Kamal, who had been maintaining that they had used the fibre glass boats to reach Mumbai on Wednesday night, has now confessed that they also used a fishing trawler, which was reported to be "missing" after rough weather on November 18.

And after killing the five crew members, the militants docked the vessel at Sasool area and began their massacre with clear cut instructions from across the border that "no mercy needs to be shown".

Giving an insight into the Lashker's seas-warfare, he is said to have claimed that, along with other LeT operatives, they were trained in marine commando techniques on Mangla Dam, a reservoir stretching between Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) to Punjab in Pakistan. In fact, Lashker chose the sea route to reach India's financial capital as the militant outfit was finding it increasingly difficult to sneak into the country through the Line-of-Control.

The militants' journey began in Lahore before they reached Karachi with strict instructions that they should not be talking to any fellow passengers or among themselves during the train journey to the port-city, the sources said.

After sailing in a merchant vessel from Karachi, they found the Indian vessel.

Subsequently, the dozen people split into at least five groups that created havoc in five-star hotels -- Taj and Trident. The terrorists were carrying dry fruits, suggesting they were prepared for a long-drawn battle.

Choice of targets - Taj Mahal hotel and Oberoi – was given to them by a Lashker commander in Karachi before they sailed to carry out the attack as these two hotels were always frequented by foreigners, especially Britons and Americans due to its proximity to the Arabian Sea, the sources said.