New Delhi, Dec 2 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh held talks with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders here this evening at her residence following the Mumbai terror attacks.

Senior party leaders Pranab Mukehrjee, Ahamed Patel and A. K. Antony who is also in-charge of Maharashtra attended the meeting.

The meeting comes in the wake of Deshmukh''s offer of resignation following Mumbai terror attacks.

Deshmukh is under pressure from the opposition to resign after last week''s terror attacks.

New Delhi - Ten terrorists carried out the attacks on India's financial hub Mumbai last week, all of them arriving by boat from Pakistan's port city of Karachi, Mumbai's police chief Hasan Gafoor said Tuesday at a press briefing.

Gafoor said the one terrorist captured by the police had admitted he came from Punjab province of Pakistan.

Nine of the terrorists were killed during the stand-off with security forces that began late Wednesday and ended Saturday.

New Delhi, Dec 2 : US senator John Mccain met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh here on Tuesday, to show solidarity with India in the wake of terror attack in Mumbai.

McCain, a Republican Party leader was on his way from Iraq to Bangladesh and had a stop over in New Delhi.

U. S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also travel to India on Wednesday at the request of President George W. Bush in the wake of Mumbai attacks, the White House said on Sunday.

On Sunday, Bush called Manmohan Singh to again offer U. S. support and condolences for the victims and the families of those killed in the attacks.

New Delhi, Dec 2 : Around 70 per cent voter turnout was witnessed in the elections for the 40-member Mizoram Assembly today.

Polling was held amidst tight security in the remote north-eastern state of Mizoram today.

This is the fourth assembly poll since Mizoram attained statehood in February 1987; a year after the Mizo Peace Accord was signed. The three main contenders are the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), the Congress and the United Democratic Alliance.

Security forces had sealed the 722-kilometer-long international border along Bangladesh and Myanmar and Mizoram''s borders with Manipur, Assam and Tripura.

New Delhi, Dec 2 : Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta has admitted to ''systemic failure'' in last weeks Mumbai terror attacks.

Addressing a news conference in New Delhi today, Admiral Mehta said, a lacuna did exist in country''s coastal security and intelligence mechanisms.

"It is a serious issue, a serious matter, the issue of security. There is a systemic failure and it needs to be taken stock of," said Admiral Mehta.

New Delhi/Hyderabad/Karnataka, Dec 2 (ANI): Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav demanded Kerala Chief Minister V. S Achuthanandan’s resignation here today.

“It is a very serious thing what Kerala''s Chief Minister has said and I will request the leadership that they should ask Achuthanandan to quit,” said Lalu.

He was reacting to an objectionable remark reportedly made by Kerala CM, after being snubbed by bereaved Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s father, when he visited his house in Bangalore on November 30.