This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

The founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which has been blamed for the Mumbai attacks in India, has been detained by Pakistani authorities, according to his spokesman.

It is understood Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is being held in his house in eastern Pakistan.

"Police have encircled the house of Hafiz Saeed in Lahore and told him he cannot go out of the home," his spokesman Abdullah Montazir told Reuters.

"They have told him detention orders will be formally served to him shortly."

Saeed quit the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2001 to become head of a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

However, analysts have suggested the charity is being used as a front for the militant group.Saeed quit the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2001 to become head of a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

However, analysts have suggested the charity is being used as a front for the militant group, which was banned by the government in 2002 after it and another militant group were blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa was already on a Pakistani watchlist and police in Karachi and Hyderabad today sealed its offices in the cities.

The house arrest followed an announcement by the Pakistani prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, that his government would comply with UN curbs on Saeed and his charity.

Gilani told the visiting US deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte, that Pakistan would fulfil its "international obligations" after the UN sanctions.

A spokesman for the central bank said directives had been issued to banks to freeze the accounts of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and all those included in the UN sanctions.

The UN's security council committee has added Saeed and Jamaat-ud-Dawa to a list of people and organisations linked to al-Qaida or the Taliban, along with three of Saeed's associates. They will be subjected to sanctions in which their assets are frozen and restrictions are imposed on travel.

Saeed founded Lashkar in 1990 to fight Indian rule in Kashmir. He quit in 2001, days before it was banned, but stayed as head of the charity, raising funds and seeking recruits.