Washington: The United States has sent its top defence official to India to help in the investigations of the Mumbai terror attacks that had claimed around 200 lives, including Americans, last week.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen is on his way to India or already there.
"Admiral Mullen is in the area as is Secretary Rice, as you know. And, frankly, because the situation is fairly delicate, I don't want to say too much about it. It clearly was the act of an extremist group that apparently was targeting Americans and Britons," Gates said.
"But the truth is most of the people who were killed were Indians. And so it's important that we find out who did it and try and prevent it from ever happening again," he added.
The top Pentagon official joined other members of the Bush administration in not commenting on reports attributed to unnamed US officials about providing early warning to India about a maritime attack.
Commending India for showing restraint at the time of tragedy Gates said that neither India has asked for assistance in the realm of counter-terrorism nor has the US offered the same.
"... I don't want to get into the intelligence that we have. I'd like to commend the Indians for their restraint at this point," Gates said at a briefing.
