U.S. officials in Pakistan to talk terror

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher was in Pakistan Monday to discuss terrorism issues after the Mumbai, India, attacks, a senior diplomat said.

Boucher plans to meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and senior officials as well as opposition leaders to discuss Pakistan's relationship with India after the Nov. 26 attacks on Mumbai in which more than 170 people died, the Indo-Asian News Service reported.

U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden and a congressional delegation are scheduled to visit the region later this week to help diffuse Pakistani-Indian tensions following the assault on India's financial and entertainment hub, the news service said.

The United States is pressing Pakistan to act on evidence provided by Indian authorities on the Mumbai attacks and "involvement of Pakistan-based militant groups," the diplomat said.

Islamabad countered it hasn't received evidence from India and that a confession from the sole surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was "not enough" to act against Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistani militant group suspected in the attacks.

India also asked the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to claim the bodies of nine attackers killed by Indian security forces during the assault, the report said.