india -pak

INDIA -- India is investigating whether Pakistan was behind an attack that killed nine people in the western city of Pune ahead of peace talks scheduled for next week, officials said Sunday.

The U.S.-backed talks are set to be the first high-level dialogue between the nuclear-armed rivals since 10 men from Pakistan carried out a three-day rampage in Mumbai that left 165 people dead in November 2008.

The attack on Saturday was "a desperate move by terror-driven organizations to prevent amity and cordiality between nations," India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters in response to a question about whether the talks would be delayed. "We will have to look into probe reports and then evaluate them."

The United States has encouraged India to invite Pakistan to the negotiating table to hash out long-simmering issues, including Pakistan's role in the Mumbai attacks and the disputed region of Kashmir. The Obama administration has urged Pakistan to focus its military strength on Afghanistan and on the spillover of Taliban militants in its northwest frontier, instead of on India.

Cities across India were on high alert after the attack. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist group, called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cancel the peace talks.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani condemned the attack and said he wanted the talks to go forward. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain and partition in 1947