By Jamila Najmuddin

Investigations were directed at finding whether the LTTE was in any way involved in the terrorist attack on Mumbai, the commercial hub of India, but with evidence pointing towards Pakistan based militants any LTTE involvement was ruled out, a high ranking Indian official said.

"Pakistan told Indian officials to look into all aspects, including an LTTE or Al-Qaeda connection. Pakistan also informed India that some of the terrorists appeared to be South Indians and looked like LTTE cadres. India investigated every angle," the official said.

London's Pakistani High Commissioner in an interview told BBC over the weekend that some of the terrorists looked very much like South Indians.

Pakistan also did not rule out an Al Qaeda connection, especially because the terrorists had particularly looked out for British and American nationals at the Taj and Oberoi/Trident hotels.

But the evidence collected during the interrogation of one of the terrorists, captured by the Indian military, pointed towards elements in Pakistan.

An Indian government official said according to evidence some of the terrorists had spoken in Punjabi - which led the detectives to believe the terrorists could have belonged to a Pakistani terror group.

Meanwhile, some countries said last week's terror attacks in Mumbai bore signs of Al Qaeda involvement especially because its main target had been British and American nationals.

A senior research fellow at the University of Wolverhampton said different militant groups around the world were copying the Al Qaeda blueprint on terrorist operations.