India is investigating links between a senior al-Qaeda terrorist, believed to have been behind the 2002 Bali bombings, and last week's attacks in Mumbai.
Police are now looking at whether the latest attacks could have been based on the intelligence gathered by the al-Qaeda man. Intelligence experts are reassessing the nature of terrorist threat faced by India in the wake of last week's Mumbai attack, which killed 171.
The attack was carried out by the Kashmiri terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), but had similar characteristics to an al-Qaeda operation.
India's Intelligence Bureau revealed it had begun investigating al-Qaeda involvement in the attacks waged by 10 men in prominent hotels, a café and railway station in Mumbai.
Condoleezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, used her trip to India yesterday to acknowledge the international dimension of the assault on Mumbai. "Whether there is a direct al-Qaeda hand or not, this is clearly the kind of terror in which al-Qaeda participates," she said.
British officials predicted that the Foreign Office travel advice would have to include a permanent warning against al-Qaeda-style attacks as a result of the Mumbai incident.
Miss Rice issued a strong warning to Islamabad that it must meet India's demands for disbandment of the LeT and extradition of fugitives sheltering across the border. She said: "This is the time for everybody to co-operate and do so transparently, and this is especially a time for Pakistan to do so."
American, British and French diplomats were yesterday working inside the foreign affairs ministries in both New Delhi and Islamabad in an attempt to forge a blueprint for co-operation between the two nations.
Pakistan maintains both countries are victims of "stateless aggressors," an explanation that is seen as empty posturing by New Delhi, and President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday rejected a demand to expel terror suspects, claiming the country's courts could try the 20 wanted men based on Indian evidence.
The leader of India's ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi told voters in Kashmir that India would not "bow before terrorism".
"We have taken several steps to have a friendly relationship with our neighbours," she said. "It should not be taken as our weakness."
Police are now looking at whether the latest attacks could have been based on the intelligence gathered by the al-Qaeda man. Intelligence experts are reassessing the nature of terrorist threat faced by India in the wake of last week's Mumbai attack, which killed 171.
The attack was carried out by the Kashmiri terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), but had similar characteristics to an al-Qaeda operation.
India's Intelligence Bureau revealed it had begun investigating al-Qaeda involvement in the attacks waged by 10 men in prominent hotels, a café and railway station in Mumbai.
Condoleezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, used her trip to India yesterday to acknowledge the international dimension of the assault on Mumbai. "Whether there is a direct al-Qaeda hand or not, this is clearly the kind of terror in which al-Qaeda participates," she said.
British officials predicted that the Foreign Office travel advice would have to include a permanent warning against al-Qaeda-style attacks as a result of the Mumbai incident.
Miss Rice issued a strong warning to Islamabad that it must meet India's demands for disbandment of the LeT and extradition of fugitives sheltering across the border. She said: "This is the time for everybody to co-operate and do so transparently, and this is especially a time for Pakistan to do so."
American, British and French diplomats were yesterday working inside the foreign affairs ministries in both New Delhi and Islamabad in an attempt to forge a blueprint for co-operation between the two nations.
Pakistan maintains both countries are victims of "stateless aggressors," an explanation that is seen as empty posturing by New Delhi, and President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday rejected a demand to expel terror suspects, claiming the country's courts could try the 20 wanted men based on Indian evidence.
The leader of India's ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi told voters in Kashmir that India would not "bow before terrorism".
"We have taken several steps to have a friendly relationship with our neighbours," she said. "It should not be taken as our weakness."
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