MUMBAI - ONE of the gunmen involved in Wednesday's multiple attacks in Mumbai told a television channel he belonged to an Indian Islamist group seeking an end to the persecution of Indian Muslims.

Identifying himself as a member of a group calling itself Deccan Mujahedeen, the gunman, who was holed up in the Oberoi hotel, called for the release of all fellow Islamic militants detained in India.

'Muslims in India should not be persecuted. We love this as our country but when our mothers and sisters were being killed, where was everybody?' he told the India TV channel by phone from inside the hotel, which was surrounded by army commandos.