India has handed over evidence to Pakistani officials linking November's deadly attacks in Mumbai to "elements in Pakistan", the Indian foreign minister has said.

Pranab Mukherjee said the evidence, delivered to the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi on Monday, included material from the interrogation of the sole surviving gunman, as well as recovered firearms and data retrieved from GPS handsets and satellite telephones.

Pakistan, which had repeatedly said that India failed to provide any evidence linking the Mumbai attackers with Islamabad, said it received the dossier and was reviewing it.

If "credible evidence is provided", the government will "take action" against any nationals accused of taking part in the attacks, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistani prime minister, said on Monday.

Gilani made the comments during talks with Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, who was in Islamabad early on Monday to help defuse simmering tensions between Pakistan and India.

'Unpardonable crime'

"What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime," Mukherjee said.

"As far as the government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India, and practises her international obligations."

India has blamed the Mumbai attacks on what it says are Pakistan-based groups, but Pakistan has denied the accusations saying it was yet to get proof.

"This material is linked to elements in Pakistan," an Indian government statement said, referring to the evidence handed over on Monday.

"It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice."

Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have been high in the wake of the attacks, with Pakistan redeploying troops away from the Afghan border towards India.

The attacks on Mumbai lasted almost three days and killed 179 people [Reuters]

India has, however, been careful not to blame the attacks on the Pakistani government, and Monday's statement again accused "elements in Pakistan" of being behind the plot.

Much of the Indian evidence in the attacks comes from interrogations of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only one of 10 attackers to survive.

Kasab has reportedly told Indian authorities that he and nine others were Pakistani nationals, that he was trained in Pakistan, and that his handlers are still there.

Pakistan has said it has no record of Kasab as a Pakistani citizen.