India, Pakistan prime ministers begin talks in Colombo

The prime ministers of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan held closed-door talks in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Saturday in a bid to salvage their troubled peace process.

The meeting between Indian Premier Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of a South Asian summit came against the backdrop of attacks on Indian targets that have stoked bilateral tensions.

A Pakistan diplomat said the leaders would hammer out "a comprehensive statement on future engagement" while an Indian diplomat said Singh planned to raise a deadly attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul last month with Gilani.

India has blamed what it refers to as "elements" in Pakistan - by which it means the state spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - for the suicide attack on the embassy in which about 60 people were killed.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied allegations of involvement.

The two leaders shook hands and smiled for cameras before entering the talks - the highest level between the countries in 15 months - at a tightly guarded luxury hotel over looking the Indian ocean.

The meeting came after India's Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters earlier recent attacks on Indian targets "quite frankly have affected the future of the dialogue."

Indian media says New Delhi also suspects Islamabad played a role in bombings a week ago in the Indian commercial cities of Ahmedabad and Bangalore that claimed at least 50 lives.

In addition, there has been a spurt in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control dividing the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, an area that has triggered two of three wars between India and Pakistan.

The escalating tensions between the two countries have cast a shadow over the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit aimed at improving regional economic growth and cooperation which opened on Saturday.

In an interview in Nepal's Himal weekly, Singh asked Pakistan to implement in "letter and spirit" its pledge to end terrorist activities on its soil.

A separatist revolt against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir has raged since 1989, but Islamabad denies India's claims that it assists the Muslim rebels, in turn accusing India of fuelling sectarian violence on its soil.