India holds cross-party terror talks

The Government has been warned it must reassess its ability to respond to terrorist attacks in the wake of the massacre in Mumbai, the Home Secretary has said. Jacqui Smith said security forces in the UK should review "what lessons need to be learnt" after multiple strikes in the Indian city left 174 dead. Her comments follow suggestions from a former SAS head and the chair of the Commons counter-terrorism committee that Britain would be ill-prepared to cope with a similar assault. The death toll from the three-day siege has been revised down by Indian authorities from 195 to 174. A further 295 people were injured in the attacks on a number of targets in the financial centre. In India, the fall-out from the massacre saw two of the country's top security officials hand in their resignations - Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Maharashtra state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Meanwhile, tension in the sub-continent has escalated in the wake of the atrocity. The sole surviving gunman, now in custody, is said to be of Pakistani origin. It has further been suggested that the other nine militants killed in the attack were his countrymen or trained in Pakistan. Islamabad responded by stating that it was prepared to move troops to the Indian border if the diplomatic situation worsened. Pakistan has categorically denied any links between the militants and its state agencies. The war of words has raised fears of a possible surge of violence in the sub-continent. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed region of Kashmir. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to India on Wednesday at the request of President George W Bush in the wake of the attacks, the White House said. "Secretary Rice's visit to India is a further demonstration of the United States' commitment to stand in solidarity with the people of India as we all work together to hold these extremists accountable," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Rice has been in contact with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in recent days to ease tensions between the nuclear states, and this is expected to be a dominant theme in her meetings with Indian officials.

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ITN | December 1, 2008

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