Two senior officials in the Bush administration have said that there is now little doubt that militants inside Pakistan directed the terror attacks in Mumbai, a media report said on Wednesday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint of Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who have been dispatched to the region, are expected to issue stern warnings to the government of Pakistan to crack down on militant groups in the country near its borders with India, the ‘New York Times’ reported.

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.

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