NEW DELHI, Oct 22: Indian and Pakistan officials will hold counter-terrorism talks here later this week, the Indian foreign ministry said on Wednesday, to build trust and allay security concerns between the two rivals.

The talks come after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari agreed in New York last month to kick-start peace talks between the two countries.

“As decided by the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan ... the Special Session of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism with Pakistan, will be held on 24 October in New Delhi,” the Indian ministry statement said.

Relations between the rivals were strained in July after New Delhi accused Islamabad’s military intelligence agency of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing of its embassy in Kabul.

The joint anti-terrorism group was set up in 2006 after train bombings in Mumbai in July of that year. India claimed Pakistan had a hand in the bombings which killed 186 people.—AFP