India blames 'elements' from Pakistan for attack

India blamed "elements" from Pakistan yesterday for the assault on its financial capital, Mumbai, raising the prospect of a breakdown in peace efforts between the nuclear-armed rivals. But Pakistan said it was not to blame, and in an unprecedented step, agreed to send the head of its military's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to India to share information.

The attacks on two luxury hotels and other sites around Mumbai were mounted after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had made bold moves to improve ties with India.

On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pinned the blame for the Mumbai attacks on militant groups based in India's neighbours, usually an allusion to old rival Pakistan. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was more explicit.

"Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Mr Mukherjee told a news conference in New Delhi yesterday.

He urged Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure that supports militants.

The two countries have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 and went to the brink of war again after a militant attack in December 2001 on India's Parliament that India linked to Pakistan.

Pakistani leaders were quick to condemn the Mumbai attacks and yesterday they denied involvement. Mr Zardari, in a meeting with Germany's ambassador, said the roots of terrorism lay in Afganistan's war against Soviet occupation in the 1980s.