Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Condoleezza Rice arrives India to ease tension

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Foreign Minister) has arrived in India on 02 Dec,2008 hoping to ease tensions between India and Pakistan after last week's attacks in Mumbai. She is to hold talks with India's prime minister and foreign minister. She is due in Pakistan on Thursday.

Earlier, unnamed US officials said the US had warned India about a possible threat a month before the attacks. The head of the US intelligence has also implied that Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba was responsible. Islamabad has denied Indian allegations that the attackers, who killed almost 200 people, had Pakistani links.

Last week's attacks at multiple locations in Indian's financial capital, Mumbai, stunned the country with many describing it as India's 9/11. A senior state department official said Ms Rice would pressure the two neighbours to co-operate to fight terrorism. She has urged India and Pakistan to remain in contact and work together to find those behind the attack.

On Tuesday, a US official told the Associated Press that the Indian authorities had been told of an apparent plot to launch an attack on Mumbai from the sea. Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor later appeared to confirm the report by saying that there had been a known threat to at least some of the locations targeted, including the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Complete news here

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