US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday called for a global fight against terrorism after paying tribute to victims of last year's deadly Mumbai attacks, as she began a visit to India.

Clinton, on her first trip to India as Washington's top diplomat, linked the attacks which left 166 people dead to those in the United States on September 11, 2001, and Friday's deadly hotel bombings in Jakarta.

"These events are seared in our collective memory," she told a news conference at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, where she is staying and where 31 guests and staff lost their lives during the Islamist militant siege.

"Yesterday's bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia, provide a painful reminder that the threat of such violent extremism is still very real. It's global, ruthless, it's nihilistic and it must be stopped.

"The United States will work with the Indian government, the Indonesian government and other nations and peoples to seek peace and security and confront and defeat these violent extremists."

In an earlier private meeting, Clinton met 13 members of staff from the Taj and the nearby Trident-Oberoi hotels, including Taj general manager Karambir Kang, whose wife and two sons died in the tragedy.

Despite losing his family, he continued to work and direct rescue operations.

Clinton said she was "deeply touched" to meet the employees and to pay her respects at the memorial to the victims at the landmark waterfront hotel.

"Both our people have experienced the senseless and searing effects of violent extremism," she wrote in a condolence book.

"Now it is up to all nations and people who seek peace and progress to work together. Let us rid the world of hatred and extremism that produces such nihilistic violence. Our future deserves no less."

Counter-terrorism is one of a number of issues on Clinton's agenda, alongside tackling nuclear proliferation and climate change, and opening up trade and new markets.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Yousef Raza Gilani in Egypt last week, agreeing to cooperate to fight extremism.

But he was quickly accused back home of making too many concessions to Pakistan, which is charged with harbouring Islamist extremists who allegedly trained, equipped and financed the Mumbai gunmen.

Clinton denied that President Barack Obama's administration was pressuring India into seeking peace with Pakistan so the latter could focus entirely on beating an Islamist insurgency on its border with Afghanistan, a US priority.

"The US... is very supportive of steps that the governments take but we are not in any way involved in or promoting any particular position," she told the news conference.

Indian Kashmir's top separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, meanwhile said Washington could help New Delhi and Islamabad resolve their rival claims to the territory, which has dominated ties since the sub-continent was split in 1947.

Peace in South Asia cannot be achieved "without a resolution of (the) core issue of Kashmir," Mirwaiz, who is chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, said in a statement.

US President Barack Obama's administration is keen to go far beyond security to bolster a range of ties with India, which it sees as a key regional and global power.

After meeting key business leaders, Clinton, who has stated that women and development are as essential to foreign policy as diplomacy and defence, then met members of an organisation that helps rural women out of poverty.

She also met leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who is ambassador for an education charity.