Adelaide: Pakistan is the "epicentre of world terrorism" and the US has made a fundamental error in accepting it as an ally in the war on terror, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha has said.

Early evidence has indicated that Islamic militant groups were responsible for the terrorist bombings in Mumbai on August 25, which killed more than 50 people. All these groups had received extensive support from Pakistan, Sinha, who is in Australia on a four-day official visit, said in an interview to a national daily. "Almost all the terrorist attacks in India have links across the border into Pakistan. Most of the terrorists who operated in Afghanistan, and most of the Taleban leaders, are still around, and most of them are in Pakistan.

"These people are fanning out around the world with Pakistan continuing to be the epicentre of terrorism. I think the US was misled into believing Pakistan was sincere in its fight against terrorism," the Minister told 'The Australian.' Sinha, who arrived on August 27 to attend the Foreign Ministers Security Dialogue, will hold high-level talks with Prime Minister John Howard and other ministers and sign an memorandum of understanding (MoU) on counter terrorism with his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer.

On Australia-India relations, Sinha said, "India and Australia are both democracies in the same part of the world. We are both large economies with tremendous potential for economic co-operation. We both face the same sorts of threats from terrorism. A lot of common interests drive the relationship.

PTI