Shock turns to anger as India buries its dead and fears grow of reprisals

Death toll rises to 195 as siege ends and 610 captives rescued

The end of 60 hours of sieges across the city was reached only for fears to rise that the massacre could spark a new wave of violence between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

Some officials in Islamabad have even warned that efforts to fight the Taliban on the border with Afghanistan may have to be curtailed if provoked by India.

Commandos and rescue personnel were still searching for bodies in the smouldering Taj Mahal Palace hotel after the final battle inside when protesters gathered outside shouting anti-Pakistan slogans.

Away from the baying mob, the only captured gunman, a member of a Pakistani terrorist organisation, was being interrogated. Other details of the terror gang's meticulously planned attacks became clear after it emerged they hijacked an Indian fishing trawler and arrived on shore in dinghies.

As the last of the trapped tourists stumbled from their hotels, the death toll climbed to 195, with 295 people wounded. Some 610 people have been rescued from hotels and a Jewish centre. Rescuers fear the number of deaths could climb well above 200 as bodies are found in the wrecked buildings of the city.

At the main city hospital morgue, relatives came, clutching one another in grief, to identify their dead. Funerals, among them ceremonies for two policemen and a lawyer, went on throughout the day.

Pakistan condemned the assault as a "barbaric act of terrorism" and denied any involvement by state agencies.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he would take "the swiftest of action" on any terror groups within his country.

But there were signs of mounting public anger over the attacks – most of it directed against Pakistan – after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hinted that elements from its rival may have been involved. Evidence was last night growing that had arrived by sea from Karachi.

Sriprakash Jaiswal, India's minister of state for home affairs, said: "Investigation carried out so far has revealed the hand of Pakistan-based groups in the Mumbai attack."

Protesters at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel shouted: "Our soldiers came and Pakistan ran away," pumping their fists skyward.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, urged calm despite the pressure on the two countries.

He said: "These are sensitive moments. The situation is serious, let us not fool ourselves… when the people in India feel this is 9/11 for India."

But a senior security official in Islamabad said Pakistan would divert troops to its border with India and away from the Afghan frontier if tensions erupt.

The next two days would prove crucial to relations, a second official said. "If something happens on that front, the war on terror won't be our priority," the senior security officer said. "We'll take out everything from the western border."

That will alarm Britain, the United States and other governments with troops in Afghanistan, as Pakistan has about 100,000 troops in the border areas, and the army is fighting Islamist militants in several tribal regions.

US President George Bush yesterday pledged full support to India, saying the killers "will not have the final word".

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence in 1947 and went to the brink of a fourth after a December 2001 militant attack on India's parliament that India also linked to Pakistan.

According to the reports, the gunmen wanted to go down in history for an Indian 9/11, and were also inspired by the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September, one of Pakistan's worst bomb attacks.

Their targets, which included a café, were frequented by executives and tourists. They knew the layout of the Taj Mahal Palace and Trident-Oberoi hotels they hit, had commando-style training, and even had food supplies, such as nuts and dry fruit, stuffed in their backpacks.

Prior to the attack, the militants had taken over an Indian fishing trawler. The captain's body was the only one found on the boat – he had been tied up and his throat cut.

The boat was found abandoned near the Mumbai shore with GPS equipment and a satellite phone on board. Police and intelligence agencies hope a log of calls will reveal their movements amid reports that one call was made to Pakistan.

The gunmen landed from the boat on rubber dinghies and the subsequent bloodbath started with an attack on the main railway station that killed nearly 50 people.

Scotland Yard has now joined the search for the terror mastermind behind the Mumbai massacres.

Agents from the FBI are also expected to co-ordinate efforts to piece together the sequence of events leading up to the bloody sieges.