New Delhi - RR Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state who also holds the state's Home Ministry portfolio, resigned on Monday, as political heads started rolling in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

A three-day terrorist siege of Mumbai, India's financial hub and capital of Maharashtra, ended Saturday after killing 187 people, including 28 foreigners.

Patil was under tremendous pressure to resign after he described the Mumbai terror strike as a "minor incident."

Canberra, Dec 1 : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has urged calm between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 195 people and strained relations between the two neighbouring countries.

New Delhi has accused “elements in Pakistan” of involvement in the three-day siege that wreaked havoc on Mumbai. Islamabad, however, denies any role in the attacks, the Daily Times reported.

Washington (dpa) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to visit
India later this week, the White House announced late Sunday.

Rice was due to leave late Sunday on a previously scheduled trip to
London, and would continue on to India following NATO meetings on
Tuesday, arriving Wednesday in New Delhi.

Dana Perino, press secretary to US President George W Bush, said
that Rice was sent on the mission to India as "a further demonstration
of the United States' commitment to stand in solidarity with the people

New Delhi  - Indian Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil submitted his resignation Sunday to take responsibility for last week's deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks, media reports said.

Washington, Nov 30 : The aftermath of Mumbai terror strikes could provoke heightened violence across South Asia, if Indian and Pakistani leaders allowed these atrocities to undo the recent rapprochement between their two governments, an editorial in the Boston Globe has said.

It said: “Those leaders will come under intense pressure to stoke nationalist passions but they need to do the opposite: exercise restraint and practise prudent statesmanship.”

Washington, Nov 30 : Even as the Mumbai terror strikes have stunned the entire South Asia, a number of Pakistani-American organisations have issued strong condemnations of the outrage and expressed sympathy for those who lost their lives.

The Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) denounced the brutal attacks in which around 200 people are feared dead. The group said it believes that no cause justifies indiscriminate attacks against civilians and no religion endorses terrorism.