Washington  - US intelligence officials helped India and Pakistan swap top secret intelligence in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The intelligence sharing between the two countries, whose relationship is often shaky at best, was facilitated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) beginning just days after the attacks that killed 170 people over three days.

The Washington Post quoted US and foreign government sources in the story, who acknowledged that those efforts helped clear the way for Islamabad last week to admit that the attacks were partly planned on its soil.

Islamabad - At least 10 people were killed on Monday in a suspected US missile strike on Pakistan's north-western tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.

The attack was believed to be carried out by US unmanned aircraft that targeted a suspected militant hideout in Sadda area of Kurram tribal district.

Two missiles destroyed a house where Taliban militants were holding a meeting, according to a local intelligence official.

Islamabad, Feb. 16: Australia has asked Pakistan to effectively clamp down on terror camps operating inside its territory in order to win India's confidence.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith while emphasizing US President Barack Obama's message, said Islamabad should ensure that its soil is not being used as a safe haven by terrorist forces.

Commenting on Pakistan's acceptance over the use of its soil in plotting the Mumbai terror attacks, Smith said it was evident that the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the ghastly act.

He said the perpetrators have to be brought to justice to build confidence back between India and Pakistan and to start constructive dialogue between both the countries.

Multan, Feb. 16: A day after the US backtracked from its statement that unmanned predator were planes operating from bases near Islamabad, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi refuted the charge categorically.

Talking to mediapersons here, Qureshi said Pakistani bases were not being used for US drone attacks in the country's tribal areas - as suggested by US Senator Dianne Feinstein a few days ago.

Qureshi also denied of any secret agreement between Islamabad and Washington on the drone attacks.

Islamabad, Feb 16: India and Pakistan could lose a lot in terms of the Sir Creek's unexplored natural resources, due to the conflicting claims they are planning to file in May under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Seas (UNCLOS) over the outer limits of their exclusive economic zones (EEZ) and the continental shelf.

Diplomatic sources say that under UNCLOS, state parties to the convention must claim maritime rights - such as territorial waters, contiguous zones, EEZs and the continental shelf - by the end of June this year.

New Delhi  - India will ask the US to sustain diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to ensure it brings terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks to justice, when US special envoy Richard Holbrooke meets Indian officials shortly, officials said Sunday.

Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, is due to arrive in the Indian capital New Delhi later on Sunday evening on the last leg of his 10-day trip to the region.