MUMBAI: India received a warning from the United States before last week’s attacks in Mumbai that militants were plotting a waterborne assault on the city, a senior US official said yesterday as domestic intelligence officials said they were aware of a Pakistan-based plot.

Another US official added that there is reason to suspect the assailants were part of a group at least partly based across the border in Pakistan.

As the evidence of the militants’ links to Pakistan mounts, a list of about 20 people — including India’s most-wanted man — was submitted to Pakistan’s high commissioner to New Delhi on Monday night, said India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The revelations come as the Indian government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures after suspected militants carried out a three-day attack across India’s financial capital, killing at least 200 people — including six Americans.

India has already demanded Pakistan take “strong action” against those responsible for the attacks, and the US has pressured Islamabad to cooperate in the investigation.

America’s chief diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will visit India today.

A Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of intelligence information, said yesterday that the US passed on information to India about a potential attack on Mumbai from its long waterfront. But the official would not elaborate on the timing or details of the US warning to Indian counterparts.

Another American official said the assailants could have been at least partly based in Pakistan — the closest the US has come to laying blame for the attacks. The State Department official was careful to say not all the evidence is in.

Meanwhile, Indian officials continued to interrogate Ajmal Qasab, the only surviving attacker. He reportedly told police that he and the other nine gunmen had trained for months in camps in Pakistan operated by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, learning close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling of explosives, satellite navigation and high-seas survival skills.

India’s foreign intelligence agency received information as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter. He said the information, which he attributed to Indian sources and not the Americans, included indications that hotels would be targeted but did not specify which ones.

The information was then relayed to domestic security authorities, said the official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the details and spoke on condition of anonymity. But it’s unclear whether the government acted on the intelligence.

The famous Taj Mahal hotel, scene of much of the bloodshed, had tightened security with metal detectors and other measures in the weeks before the attacks, after being warned of a possible threat.

But the precautions “could not have stopped what took place,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the company that owns the hotel, told CNN. “They (the gunmen) didn’t come through that entrance. They came from somewhere in the back.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, met yesterday with top security aides to review any government lapses.

Among those sought by India is Dawood Ibrahim — a powerful gangster, the alleged mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bombings, and India’s most-wanted man. Also included is Masood Azhar, a terror suspect freed from an Indian prison in exchange for the release of hostages aboard an Indian Airlines aircraft hijacked on Christmas Day 1999.

In the past, Pakistan has denied harboring the men. However, Pakistan said it would consider India’s request and respond after receiving the list.

“We must try to dampen down the discourse of conflict and work toward regional peace,” said Pakistani Information Minister Sherry Rehman.

Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, yesterday told reporters that “nobody is talking about military action,” according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Responding to questions on what actions India would take, he said only “time will show.”