WikiLeaks: NZ appears in cable on Mumbai attacks

New Zealand has been mentioned in a confidential cable released by WikiLeaks on terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

The cable from December 2008 is about the international response to a series of deadly bombings and shootings in the Indian city.

It describes a meeting between New Zealand, US, Australian, British and Canadian diplomats in the aftermath of the attacks.

All the representatives resolved not to get "sucked into the blame game" being played by Pakistan and India, the cable says.

It also says the representatives decided any offers of assistance to India should be made "carefully" to avoid being interpreted as politically motivated.

They had earlier agreed to send sympathetic messages to India rather than "pound" it for the "massive intelligence failure" that led to the attacks, it says.

At least 175 people were killed and 308 wounded in the Mumbai attacks from November 26 to 29, 2008.

In the leaked cable, US ambassador to India David Mulford speculates on whether the the attacks were ordered by Pakistan's intelligence service.

In a segment titled "The Million Dollar Question", he notes links between Pakistan intelligence and the extremist group that perpetrated them, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

But he says "there is no clear evidence yet to suggest that ISI directed or facilitated the attacks".

Indian press at the time was calling the attack the work of Pakistan.