UPDATE 1-Pakistan agencies "recommended" Mumbai gunman news

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By Robert Birsel

ISLAMABAD, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Pakistan's security agencies had recommended confirming the surviving Mumbai gunman was Pakistani, the country's former national security adviser said on Thursday, adding he was sacked because the prime minister was out of the loop.

India had said for weeks the captured gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was Pakistani. Pakistan had stonewalled, saying his name was not on a national database and it was investigating.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani on Wednesday, shortly after he and other officials confirmed to reporters that Kasab was Pakistani.

Newspapers in India interpreted his dismissal as punishment for revealing the truth, while Pakistani media speculated it showed a split in power circles in Islamabad.

Durrani said authorities, including security agencies, had already decided to confirm the gunman was Pakistani.

"It had been decided yesterday that we would tell the world that he is a Pakistani because hiding that makes no sense," Durrani told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The security agencies recommended it," he said.