"I want to consult with the Indian government on what we can do to help," in the probe into the audacious attacks in India's financial heart and film capital which killed 188 people, including some 22 foreigners, Rice said.

"I am going to, of course, express solidarity with the Indian people. This was a horrible attack," Rice told reporters in Brussels before leaving for India.

She said the attack "underscores the importance of getting to the bottom of what happened, both to bring those who perpetrated this terrible crime to justice, and to try and prevent further attacks of this kind."

"Everyone should cooperate fully and Pakistan needs to cooperate fully and transparently," Rice said. "So I was pleased to see the statement by the Pakistani government that they intend to do so."

India's Deputy Home Minister Shakeel Ahmad said Monday the Mumbai attackers were all from Pakistan -- the strongest such claim since the 60-hour bloodbath which ended Saturday.

Suspicion has fallen in particular on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group fighting Indian control of disputed Kashmir. The group was behind a December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

A senior State Department official said Rice would pressure the two US allies -- who have fought three wars since their 1947 independence from British rule -- to cooperate in wiping out terrorism.

"They want help from the other side and they are committed to doing it together and that is what we are going to encourage," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are going to work with the Indians and whatever points in the direction of Pakistani territory, we are going to work with the Pakistanis too," said the official who is accompanying Rice on her visit to India.

"I think that the fact that the US is involved with both sides in identifying and going after terrorist groups can help them to cooperate," the official said, adding: "How do we get these guys? The answer is we get them together."

Pakistan offered Tuesday to work hand-in-hand with India to track down those responsible but sidestepped a demand that it hand over 20 terrorist suspects.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi suggested setting up a "joint investigation mechanism" into the assaults but did not respond to India's demand that Islamabad arrest and extradite the list of terror suspects.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee stressed to reporters "nobody is talking about military action" against Pakistan but formally demanded "the arrest and hand-over of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and are fugitives of Indian law".

Pakistan has said in the past that it will not hand over any of its citizens to India.

Among the suspects is Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that has been accused of carrying out last week's dramatic assault on Mumbai.

Pakistan's prime minister said his government wanted proof of India's allegation that all the attackers were Pakistanis, while President Asif Ali Zardari denied his country was involved in any way.

"I think these are stateless actors who have been operating throughout the region. The gunmen, whoever they are, they are all stateless actors who are holding hostage the whole world," Zardari told CNN.

"The state of Pakistan is no way responsible," the Pakistani leader added.

CNN and other US networks reported that the United States had warned India in October hotels and business centres in Mumbai would be targeted by attackers coming from the sea.

One US intelligence official had named the Taj Mahal hotel, one of 10 sites hit in the 60-hour siege by gunmen, as a specific target, ABC television said.

It said Indian intelligence officials intercepted a phone call on November 18 to an address in Pakistan used by the head of Lashkar-e-Taiba, revealing a possible attack from the sea.

About 10 gunmen landed in rubber dinghies in Mumbai on Wednesday and wreaked havoc with automatic weapons and hand grenades in an assault that injured more than 300.

India's security and intelligence agencies have come under intense criticism over their handling of the incident.

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