Pakistan admits internal link to Mumbai attacks, India says

Pakistan acknowledged the Mumbai attacks were partly plotted on its soil and announced criminal proceedings against eight suspects, including three alleged ringleaders, in a sign it is heeding U.S. and Indian demands to punish those responsible for the deaths of 164 people. India called Thursday's announcement a "positive development" and the news was welcomed by Washington, which had feared tensions the attacks triggered between the nuclear-armed neighbors would distract Pakistan from its struggle against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

"I want to assure the international community, I want to assure all those who have been victims of terrorism, that we mean business," Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said at a news conference, while holding up a copy of the findings that were later handed over to India.

Analysts said the admission of a link to its citizens meant Pakistan was no longer "in denial," but noted the U.S. and India would still push for convictions against the plotters and look for evidence that Islamabad had dismantled anti-India militant groups it once cultivated as proxy armies against its giant neighbor.India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, creating a poisonous legacy that meant it was difficult for Pakistan's shaky civilian government to acknowledge Indian, U.S. and British allegations that its citizens were involved in the attacks without looking like it was caving in to its old foe.

New Delhi says the 10 gunmen only one of whom was captured alive were Pakistanis and that their handlers in Pakistan kept in touch with them by phone during the three-day assault on 10 sites including two five-star hotels and a Jewish center.Indian officials have also accused Pakistani intelligence agents of involvement in the attacks a charge denied by Islamabad, which had been working to improve ties with New Delhi before the strikes