Pak militants directed Mumbai terror attacks: NYT

The two senior officials told the paper that the US had warned India in mid-October of possible terrorist attacks against ‘tourist areas frequented by Westerners’ in Mumbai, but that the information was not specific.

Nonetheless, the officials were quoted as saying, the warning echoed other general alerts in 2008 by India’s intelligence agency, raising questions about the adequacy of India’s counter-terrorism measures.

Pakistani leaders appeared to be waiting for the arrival of Admiral Mullen, who has met with the Pakistani military chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in Washington and Islamabad on many occasions, the paper said, adding Secretary Rice is scheduled to land in Islamabad on Thursday.

Senior Bush administration officials, it said, sought to tamp down tensions. “It’s important for there to be restraint on both sides and but it’s also important to find out who was responsible,” Defence Secretary Robert M Gates said at the Pentagon.

At a meeting at Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, foreign diplomats urged Pakistani officials on Tuesday to take firm action against terrorism suspects, the paper said, citing two diplomats who were there.

The Mumbai attacks were not just a Pakistan-India matter but were of international proportions and involved the deaths of a number of foreigners, one diplomat said.