India demands 'strong action' from Pakistan

Tension rising after deadly terror attacks

Moshe Holtzberg, 2, arrived at Mumbai airport yesterday with his grandparents and held by his nanny Sandra Samuel, who saved Moshe's life in the attack that killed the boy's parents. In Israel, concerns were raised over security overseas. A4 (Uriel Sinai/ Getty Images)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - With tensions rising between India and Pakistan after the deadly attacks in Mumbai last week, the United States increased pressure yesterday on Pakistan to cooperate in the investigation, while Indian officials lodged a formal diplomatic protest with their South Asian neighbor, demanding strong action against those behind the assault.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration is urging Pakistan's government to "follow the evidence wherever it leads," saying transparency is crucial to the investigation into the three-day siege that left at least 174 dead and nearly 300 wounded in the Indian mega-city of Mumbai. Rice, who is expected to travel to India to meet with leaders there tomorrow, said during a visit to London yesterday that the deaths of six Americans in the Mumbai attacks had heightened the US stake in the outcome of the inquiry.

Rice's comments came as officials in the Indian capital of New Delhi demanded that Pakistan take "strong action" against those who organized the assaults. Vishnu Prakash, spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry, said Pakistan's lead envoy in New Delhi had been summoned and told that "elements from Pakistan" were behind the coordinated attacks on 10 sites in Mumbai.

Other Indian officials have pointed the finger at the Pakistani-based guerrilla group Lashkar-i-Taiba. India has said the only gunman captured in the attacks admitted to membership in Lashkar, which has origins in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said gunman Azam Amir Kasab told investigators he trained at a camp in Pakistan. Pakistan has rejected the claim, while Lashkar operatives have denied responsibility for the assaults.

US officials largely corroborated India's assertions yesterday, with one counterterrorism official saying intelligence information showed that preparations for the attacks "were done within Pakistan." But US officials also said they are convinced of the sincerity of the Pakistani government's insistence that it had no role in the assaults.

American diplomats were working yesterday to dissuade India from lashing out at Pakistan or insurgent groups based there, worried that such a strike might further inflame tensions and lead to violence. In response to a question about India at a news conference, President-elect Barack Obama reaffirmed that "sovereign nations, obviously, have a right to protect themselves." But he called for patience, saying it is "important for us to let the investigators do their jobs and make a determination in terms of who was responsible for carrying out these heinous acts."

Pakistan has said that it is willing to assist India with the investigation. But a senior Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said the rising Indian backlash against Pakistan could derail an offer last week to send a senior official with the country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to aid India in the investigation.

Elsewhere in India today, a bomb exploded in a train coach in the country's insurgency-hit northeast, killing at least two people and injuring another 30, a state government official said.

The explosion occurred shortly after the train arrived at Diphu railroad station, about 200 miles south of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, said District Magistrate M.C. Sahu.

The train was heading from Lumding in central Assam to the eastern commercial hub of Tinsukhia, Sahu said.

All the 30 wounded have been hospitalized, three of them in critical condition, he said.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.