Brown urges Zardari to break terror links

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says 75 percent of his country's domestic terrorism investigations have ties to Pakistan.

Speaking in Islamabad with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at his side, Brown told reporters Sunday there currently are about 30 major terrorism investigations in Britain, with 2,000 suspects being watched by police and intelligence services, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Of those, he said, three-quarters had links to al-Qaida or Taliban elements in Pakistan.

Brown put pressure on Zardari, urging him to "break the chain of terror" between Britain and the mountainous tribal areas in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. "The aim must be to work together to do everything in our power to cut off terrorism," Brown said.

Brown, on an urgent diplomatic mission to improve relations between India and Pakistan following last month's Mumbai terror attacks, met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi before flying to Islamabad. There, Singh presented Brown with a list of "confidence-building measures" to which they wanted Pakistan to agree, The Sunday Times said.