Pakistani court ends US-wanted militant leader's detention

A Pakistani court has rejected the government's plea to extend for three more months the house arrest of a U.S.-wanted militant who founded a banned group linked to the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

The United States has designated Hafiz Saeed a terrorist and offered a $10 million bounty for him.

Saeed ran the Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization, widely believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group behind the attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed 168 people.

Pakistan put Saeed and four of his aides under house arrest in Lahore in January.

His spokesman, Yahya Mujahid, says a three-judge panel dismissed the government's plea. Saeed's detention ends on Thursday. His aides were released earlier.

It's unclear whether Wednesday's development could open the way for Saeed's extradition to India or the U.S.