US President-elect Barack Obama said India had every right to go after terrorists to protect itself like any sovereign nation, as the Bush Administration implored Pakistan to realise the ‘seriousness’ of the unprecedented Mumbai terror attacks.

With Obama and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushing Pakistan hard to fully cooperate with India in the ongoing probe into the attacks, the President-elect said his administration will remain steadfast in support of India's efforts to catch the perpetrators of the strikes and bring them to justice.

"And I expect that the world community will feel the same way," he said while announcing at a news conference in Chicago that Hillary Clinton will be his Secretary of State.

Obama said he expected Islamabad to fully cooperate with New Delhi in the investigations.

Asked if India has the right to ‘take out’ high-value targets inside Pakistan, Obama said, "I think that sovereign nations, obviously, have a right to protect themselves’.

Obama had drawn criticism during the campaign including from Hillary Clinton when he said the US would be justified in pursuing al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan if it had ‘actionable intelligence’.

"Beyond that, I don't want to comment on the specific situation that's taking place in South Asia right now. I think 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," the President-elect said.

Ahead of her visit to New Delhi on Wednesday ,Rice at a Round Table in London refused to speculate on how the government of India will respond but said it is ‘incumbent’ on Pakistan to realise the seriousness of what has happened. Rice also wanted Islamabad to fully cooperate with the probe.