India, Britain share assessment of global terror threats

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, India and Britain on Friday shared their assessment of terror threats across the world, including cross-border terrorism in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region during the 12th Meeting of India-UK Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism here.

"Both sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry said.

"They shared assessment on the prevailing terrorist threats globally and in their region including cross-border terrorism in the Af-Pak region," it stated.

The meeting came ahead of the 10th anniversary of the four-day cross-border terror attack in Mumbai that started on November 26, 2008, and left over 160 people dead and over 300 injured.

The attack was carried out by the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In Friday's meeting, both sides exchanged views on current counter-terrorism challenges, including countering radicalisation and violent extremism, combating financing of terrorism and preventing use of internet for terrorist purposes and agreed to strengthen cooperation in dealing with these challenges.

"The two sides also deliberated upon measures to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation through regular exchange of information, mutual capacity building efforts, sharing of best practices and mutual legal assistance," the Ministry statement said.

"Cooperation in multilateral fora such as United Nations and Financial Action Task Force was also discussed," it added.

During the meeting, the Indian side was led by Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary (Counter-Terrorism) in the External Affairs Ministry, while the British delegation was led by Jane Marriot, Director of the Joint International Counter-Terrorism Unit.

--IANS

ab/nir