Rice urges Pakistan to co-operate over Mumbai

Published on Wednesday 3 December 2008 21:47

EXPLOSIVES were yesterday found in Mumbai's main train station, which police said were left over from last week's attacks.

The bomb squad defused the two 8lb bombs, said Bapu Domre, the assistant commissioner of police, but it was not clear last night why they had not been found earlier.

The discovery came as Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, visited New Delhi and called for full co-operation from Pakistan to ease tensions in the region after the attacks, which left at least 171 dead.

Indian and US officials have blamed the three-day assault on Pakistani militants, but stopped short of naming the banned group Lashkar-e-Taiba. However, Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, said the attacks were led from inside Pakistan, and said India would act decisively to protect its territorial integrity.

He said: "I informed Dr Rice there is no doubt that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan."

Pakistan has condemned the assault, denied any involvement by state agencies and vowed to work with India in the inquiry. Nevertheless, the accusations have sparked fears the nuclear-armed neighbours might slide towards a fourth war since independence from Britain in 1947 unless cool heads prevail. It is feared a confrontation would undermine efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan and defeat al-Qaeda.

Dr Rice met the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and other leaders in the Indian capital and is due to visit Islamabad today. She said the US was "already actively engaged in information sharing" with Indian authorities, and she made clear that Islamabad would also have to cooperate with the investigation.

"President (Asif Ali] Zardari has told me that he will follow the leads wherever they go," she said. "I have said that Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency, and co-operate fully."

She said it was too early to say who was responsible for the attack, but added: "Whether there is a direct al-Qaeda hand or not, this is clearly the kind of terror in which al-Qaeda participates."

India has called on Pakistan to turn over 20 people who are "fugitives of Indian law" and wanted for questioning, but Mr Zardari said the suspects would be tried in Pakistan if they were found to be hiding there and if there was evidence of wrongdoing.

"At the moment, these are just names of individuals – no proof and no investigation," he said.

A week after the attacks, more details of intelligence failures began to emerge, drawing further criticism to authorities already blamed for acting slowly during the 60-hour siege created by ten gunmen.

Sureesh Mehta, the head of the navy, earlier called India's failure to act on multiple warnings "a systemic failure". India had received a warning from the United States that militants were plotting a waterborne assault on Mumbai and that hotels might be targeted.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff also urged Pakistan yesterday to investigate all possible links between the Mumbai attacks and Pakistani groups and to broaden its campaign against militants.

Admiral Mike Mullen flew in for talks with Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government and military commanders.

A US embassy statement said Admiral Mullen "encouraged Pakistani leaders to take more, and more concerted, action against militant extremists elsewhere in the country".

AK Antony, the Indian defence minister, told his military chiefs they needed to improve intelligence co-ordination so security forces could act on all credible threats, according to a ministry statement. The statement said he discussed beefing up maritime security and "reviewed in detail the preparedness against any possible terror threats from air."

Meanwhile, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday as he arrived in Brussels for Nato talks, that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai had underscored the need for the West to help Pakistan tackle terrorism.