Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has written to his Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh, to offer Singapore's condolences to the families of the victims and the hostages.

Singapore officials are already in touch with their counterparts, he told Dr Singh in his letter.

'Singapore stands ready to assist the Indan authorities in any way to secure the safe release of the Singaporean and other hostages,' he wrote.

Singapore's High Commisioner to India, Mr Calvin Eu, who is based in New Delhi, is now in Mumbai. A small group has also been dispatched from Singapore to the city, India's leading financial centre, to 'reinforce the people on the ground', said PM Lee.

Arrangements have been made to fly the family of the Singaporean hostage over to Mumbai as well.

PM Lee, who was speaking to Singapore media on the last day of his visit to Latin America, described the Mumbai blasts as 'a very flagrant and daring attack'.

'It is not the first time there has been a terrorist attack in India...but none as bold and as disastrous as this one. We condemn it in the strongest possible terms,' he told reporters.

Replying to a question on the impact of the attack on India's economy, he replied that 'it can only be a minus'.

Confidence in India's security and its already tense inter-religious relations would be shaken.

This is not the first time India, including Mumbai, has been targeted 'so people will not see it as a sudden drastic change from black to white', he said.

But the boldness and coordinated nature of the attacks would worsen the economic impact.

Asked about Singapore's policy on hostage situations, he said: 'I think it would not be helpful to explain publicly what we are going to do. We've told the Indians we are giving them our full support and anything which they find useful in terms of help from us, we will go out of our way to be forthcoming.'

In his letter to Dr Singh, PM Lee also noted that that the Mumbai attacks are 'a reminder that terrorism continues to be a common threat to all of us'.

Asked for a security update on Singapore and South-east Asia, he said good progress had been made on all fronts.

'We have done all that we can to make sure that not only is our physical guard up, but that we continue to pursue terrorist groups in South-east Asia.'

The Indonesians and Malaysians are doing their part as well.

Singapore, which cracked down on a Jemaah Islamiah terror cell in 2001 and 2002, continues to impose massive security precautions whenever there is a major event.

On the people front, work was continuing to ' develop immunity within our own society' and make sure the wider community stays on the right track instead of being 'led astray' by terrorist propaganda.

He described as valuable the work of the Religious Rehabiliation Group to 'turn around' terrorists, an approach that is being adopted elsewhere.

There is also the Community Engagement Programme for leaders to build ties and prevent a spiralling situation of distrust and, maybe even worse, ethnic tensions or violence.

Singapore, he said, has made a good start on the security front. But it was important not just to have plans in place, but also to ensure that 'instincts and links, human contacts can be relied upon'.

bertha@sph.com.sg