ISLAMABAD - THE British Prime Minister says three-quarters of the most serious terror plots investigated by Britain have links to Pakistani militants, and he has pledged US$9 million (S$13.4 million) to help Islamabad fight terrorism.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was speaking yesterday after meeting Pakistani and Indian leaders in the wake of terror attacks in India that killed more than 160 people.

He promised Pakistan new bomb-scanning technology and US$9 million worth of assistance to help fight the causes of extremism and strengthen democracy.

He also said more would be done with both India and Pakistan to share police data on terror suspects and groups.

'Through these measures we hope to do more to break the chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain and other countries around the world,' Mr Brown said during a press conference with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

Nearly three-quarters of the most serious terror plots investigated by the British authorities have links to the Al-Qaeda terror network in Pakistan, he said.

Two of the latest plans that lead back to Pakistan have been a trans-Atlantic airliner plot where a group of men were accused of trying to blow up several aircraft, and the deadly attacks in India's commercial capital of Mumbai late last month.

'This is a chilling reminder that we are all victims of terrorism,' Mr Brown said during the news conference with Mr Zardari, whose wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, was killed during a terror attack last year after returning from exile.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic group for the Mumbai attacks and called on Pakistan to crack down on militants operating out of its territory.

Pakistan has arrested some alleged plotters and taken other steps against a charity claimed to be a front for Lashkar, but it is pressing India to provide evidence to aid in prosecutions.

Mr Brown said he asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - whom he had breakfast with yesterday - if he would allow the British authorities to question the only known surviving gunman in the Mumbai massacre.

He said he also asked Mr Zardari for the same cooperation.

According to India, the 10 gunmen were from Pakistan, as were the handlers, masterminds, weapons, and financing.

And India now finds itself in the awkward position of having to investigate terrorist attacks hand-in-hand with its longtime nemesis.

The two countries have fought three wars against each other since independence and despite a peace process that began in 2004, tensions remain high and previously improving relations plummeted in the wake of the devastating Mumbai assault.

Illustrating the difficulties between the two countries, just hours before Mr Brown arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan accused India of twice violating its air space on Saturday.

Pakistan said Indian jets had flown over the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir and the eastern city of Lahore, where Lashkar is active, though the claim drew a swift denial from New Delhi.

Britain has previously urged India and Pakistan, whose long-running dispute over divided Kashmir is a fault line of geopolitical significance, to work together in the wake of last month's devastation in Mumbai.

But Dr Singh said yesterday that relations with Pakistan could only be normalised when it no longer provided safe havens for militants.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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