Washington: US officials are worried about a possible surge in violence between India and Pakistan after the bloody attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 195 people, including six Americans.
To ease tensions, intelligence officials are searching urgently for clues that might identify the attackers even as Indian officials claim "elements in Pakistan" were involved.
FBI agents were preparing to fly to India to investigate the bloody attacks as the State Department warned US citizens still in the city that their lives remain at risk.
A US counterterrorism official said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with the work of Pakistani militant groups known as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that have fought Indian troops in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and also are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.
But the official emphasized it was premature to pinpoint who was responsible for the attacks. Another official, specialising in counterintelligence, also cautioned against rushing to judgment on the origins of the gunmen who waged a two-and-a-half-day rampage through India's leading commercial center before being killed.
The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
The US Embassy in New Delhi on Saturday raised the death toll among Americans from five to six, including at least three at a Jewish outreach center and a man and his 13-year-old daughter killed when gunfire erupted at a hotel restaurant. Embassy officials gave no details on the identity of the sixth victim.
Underscoring those fears, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called the foreign minister of India twice, along with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, since the crisis began.
"There were very worrying tensions in the region," said Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman. "She was calling the president of Pakistan to get his read on how those tensions might be affected."
As US officials worked to ease hard feelings between India and Pakistan, a tentative rapprochement between the two nuclear-armed rivals could hang in the balance.
Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said in a statement that his country is "confronting the menace of terrorism with great vigor." Haqqani insisted "it is unfair to blame Pakistan or Pakistanis for these acts of terrorism even before an investigation is undertaken."
President George W. Bush pledged cooperation with Indian authorities and mourned the deaths of at least 195 people at the hands of gunmen. Bush was receiving regular updates, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Friday night.
Duguid, the State Department spokesman, repeated calls for US citizens not to travel to the stricken city at least through the weekend.
Officials were working out the final details with Indian diplomats Friday for the departure of an FBI team, said US authorities, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the operation. A second group of investigators was on alert to join the first team if necessary.
US officials were checking with Indian authorities and hospitals to learn more about the extent of casualties.
President-elect Barack Obama has spoken by telephone with Rice about the attacks and received several intelligence briefings, State Department officials said. They said Rice spoke again on Friday with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
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