Islamabad: Stating it was "clear" that the Mumbai attackers had "links that lead to Pakistani soil", senior US diplomat Richard Boucher Monday evening said Pakistan and India should cooperate in the probe into the carnage as each possessed "pieces of the puzzle" that could help find the perpetrators.

While urging the South Asian neighbours to cooperate in the probe, the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia said, "Each side has pieces of the puzzle and they need to be known to each other."

"The two sides need to exchange information. People have to work with each other," Boucher said at a press conference at the US embassy, Geo TV reported.

The US diplomat arrived here early Monday for talks with the Pakistani leadership in a bid to defuse the tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad sparked by the 26/11 attacks in which more than 170 people, including 26 foreigners, were killed.

India Monday handed over to Islamabad evidence linking the terrorists behind the attacks to elements in Pakistan, which Boucher described as a positive step.

Boucher said it was "clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil".

He also said Pakistan's crackdown on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity with links to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), showed the country's "commitment to eliminate sources of terrorism on Pakistani soil".

"There is determination here to follow up and find the groups that are responsible so they never do it again," he said.

Boucher is to go to India for meetings with leaders in New Delhi.

 

Source : IANS