Washington: The Bush administration has reason to suspect a group at least partly based in Pakistan for last week's attack in India, and disclosed that the US had warned the Indian government beforehand that terrorists appeared to be plotting an assault on Mumbai, officials said today.

Evidence suggests that the brutal, prolonged attack on India's financial capital has some roots in Pakistan, a senior State Department official said.

That is the closest the US has come to placing blame for the coordinated assaults, although the official was careful to say that not all the evidence is in. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Indian authorities have claimed a Pakistan connection for days, but the United States has not wanted to "jump to conclusions," as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.

The administration fears that any misstep amid the extraordinarily high emotions surrounding the three-day assault, which killed 172 and wounded 239 in the heart of Mumbai, could spark new and possibly deadly tensions between longtime, nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

Rice is set to visit India on tomorrow, carrying the US demand that Pakistan cooperate fully in the investigation into the attacks and try to cool cross-border tempers. Among those killed in Mumbai were six Americans, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

The revelation of a US warning to Indian counterparts about a possible coming attack comes as the Indian government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures in the wake of the assault.

Source : PTI