CALCUTTA (India ) - INDIAN police say they have arrested two men accused of providing mobile phone cards to the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks.

Senior police official Javed Shahim says the two men supplied SIM cards to the group of 10 gunmen who attacked Mumbai last week, leaving 171 people dead.

He says one of the men is from the Indian portion of Kashmir, and the other is from the state of West Bengal.

Police in the eastern city of Calcutta said they had arrested two men they identified as Tausif Rehman and Sheikh Mukhtar on Friday.

'We are questioning them about procurement of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards used in Mumbai,' said Mr Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of detectives in Calcutta.

If the men are involved, it would be further evidence of Indian complicity in the three-day rampage New Delhi has blamed on Islamic militants from neighbouring Pakistan.

Indian authorities believe the militant group responsible for the attacks has links to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The men were arrested Friday night. Mr Shahim declined to offer further details on Saturday.

The arrests were the first known to be linked to the attacks other than the capture of the lone surviving gunman, who is in police custody.

At least 171 people were killed in the attacks last week in which 10 gunmen struck two luxury hotels and other landmarks across India's financial capital.

Airports in New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai remained on high alert for a fourth day on Saturday, with extra security personnel deployed after India's civil aviation authority said it had received intelligence that attacks could be planned. -- AP, REUTERS