MUMBAI • Security was tightened in India's financial capital of Mumbai yesterday on the ninth anniversary of a terrorist attack that left 166 people dead, as several commemorative events were held.

Barricades were put up across the city and police deployed at every junction, on the day described in India as "26/11".

On Nov 26, 2008, 10 gunmen attacked targets in Mumbai, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station. A Singaporean lawyer died in the attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking to the nation in a regular radio programme, said: "We salute all those brave women and men who lost their lives in the gruesome 26/11 attacks in Mumbai."

He added, as quoted by The Hindu newspaper yesterday: "Terrorism is a threat to humanity."

Pakistan last Friday controversially released from house arrest a firebrand Pakistani Islamist accused of masterminding the bloody assault.

Hafiz Saeed, who has a US$10 million (S$13.5 million) US bounty on his head, had been under house arrest since January after living freely in Pakistan for years, a sore point in the country's often fraught relations with both the United States and India.

India blames the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) of being behind the Mumbai carnage, after the terrorists came in from the Arabian Sea coast that India shares with Pakistan.

The attack lasted for four days.

Responsibility for guarding Mumbai's 114km coastline may soon become the responsibility of a police force under the central government, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported yesterday.

The government wants to form what it calls a central marine police force (CMPF) to patrol the Mumbai coastline, as well as the country's whole 7,000km coastline.