New Delhi - India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the Mumbai terror attacks could not have been executed without Pakistani help and cautioned Islamabad that it will pay a heavy price if such a crime were repeated, a media report said Sunday.

In an interview with the NDTV network, Chidambaram alleged the involvement of Pakistan government agencies in the attacks carried out by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba that claimed at least 173 lives.

Rejecting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's denials of any official involvement in the attacks, Chidambaram said the scope and sophistication of the terrorist operation showed that it must have been carried out with the help of "state actors" in Pakistan.

Islamabad - At least eight coal miners were suffocated by a poison gas leak in Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province on Sunday, a media report said.

On Friday, a major decision was taken by Pakistan under which it decided not to send its hockey and squash teams to India citing security concerns for the players.

The Pakistan hockey team was to participate in the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup, scheduled to start in Chandigarh from January 31, while the squash team was to defend its Asian Junior title in Chennai, which was supposed to start from January 16.

Lahore, Jan. 4 : The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia affairs, Richard Boucher, is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Monday as part of Washington's efforts to defuse tension between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks.

Boucher's visit to Pakistan is aimed at removing the threat of war in South Asia, irrupted after the Mumbai attacks. He is also scheduled to discuss the war on terror and bilateral issues with the Pakistani leadership, the Daily Times reported.

Islamabad, Jan. 3 : Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday met Iran''s Special Envoy Gholam Hussein Nowzari and expressed his deep concern over the Israel-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip.

In his interaction with Nowzari, Gilani said Pakistan has consistently and unequivocally offered unreserved support to the Palestinian cause and supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with Al Quds Sharif as its capital.

Islamabad, Jan. 3 : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to both Iran and China to join the global war on terror.

Talking to special envoy of Iran Gholam Hossein Nozari who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Saturday, Zardari said he was concerned about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, and that there was a need for the international community to step in and halt the violence that has claimed over 430 lives so far.