President George W. Bush (pictured) pledged cooperation with Indian authorities and mourned the deaths of more than 150 people at the hands of gunmen who attacked targets across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night. --PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - THE US government ordered FBI agents on Friday to fly to India to assist in the investigation of the bloody Mumbai attacks that killed at least five Americans. US citizens still in the city were warned their lives remain at risk.
Intelligence officials looked urgently for clues about the identity of the attackers, a crucial unknown as Indian officials charged, without giving details, that 'elements in Pakistan' were involved. A tentative rapprochement between the two nuclear-armed rivals could hang in the balance, and a US counterintelligence official cautioned against rushing to judgment on the origins of the militants.
Navy investigating ship found with corpse on board
MUMBAI - AN Indian navy spokesman says officials are
investigating an abandoned trawler found carrying a corpse near the
coast of Mumbai.
Captain Manohar Nambiar says the trawler was found on Thursday drifting 15-20 miles off the coast of Mumbai. He says a corpse was on board.
President George W. Bush pledged cooperation with Indian authorities and mourned the deaths of more than 150 people at the hands of gunmen who attacked targets across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night.
'My administration has been working with the Indian government and the international community as Indian authorities work to ensure the safety of those still under threat,' he said in a statement from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. 'We will continue to cooperate against these extremists who offer nothing but violence and hopelessness. '
Mr Bush was receiving regular updates, White House press secretary Dana Perino said on Friday night. Senior administration officials were focused on ensuring that Americans were being helped in every way possible, she said.
'The administration also has continued to work with the Indian government at all levels and has offered assistance and support,' MS Perino said.
A US counterterrorism official said it was premature to reach conclusions on who may be responsible for the attacks. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said some 'signatures of the attack' were consistent with the work of militants who have fought against India in the disputed Kashmir region.
Officials were working out the final details with Indian diplomats on 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.
The investigators aim to learn more about the militants who carried out the lethal strikes on luxury hotels, a train station and an Orthodox Jewish centre where a rabbi and his wife, who had moved to Mumbai from New York, were among five hostages slain. An American and his teenage daughter travelling with a Virginia-based spiritual group were also among those killed during the coordinated attacks.
'Americans are still at risk on the ground' in Mumbai on Friday, the State Department said on Friday, warning citizens not to travel to the stricken city at least through the weekend.
State Department spokesman Robert McInturff said US officials have activated a phone tree to contact American citizens who registered with the US consulate in Mumbai.
US officials are concerned about a flare-up in animosity similar to one that occurred after Pakistani militants attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001, officials said.
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 Mr Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman. 'She was calling the president of Pakistan to get his read on how those tensions might be affected.'
President-elect Barack Obama has spoken by telephone with Ms Rice about the attacks and received several intelligence briefings, State Department officials said. They said Ms Rice spoke again on Friday with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
'These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India's great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them,' Mr Obama said in a statement. 'The United States must stand with India and all nations and people who are committed to destroying terrorist networks, and defeating their hate-filled ideology.' -- AP
