India on Monday used the death of Osama bin Laden to denounce rival Pakistan as a terrorist "sanctuary," as it renewed calls for Islamabad to arrest suspects behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram said India noted with "grave concern" that bin Laden had been found hiding in a palatial villa less than two hours' drive from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

"This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan," Chidambaram said.

India has long accused Pakistan of providing shelter and support to militant groups planning attacks on Indian soil and has repeatedly pushed the global community — the United States in particular — to censure Pakistan accordingly.

US President Barack Obama said the operation to kill bin Laden was the result of cooperation with Pakistan, but US officials admitted that they had not informed Islamabad before the strike by US forces.

Chidambaram chose to focus on India's belief that perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks continue to be sheltered in Pakistan.

"We once again call upon the government of Pakistan to arrest the persons whose names have been handed over… as well as provide voice samples of certain persons who are suspected to be among the controllers and handlers of the terrorists," he said.

India says the 10 gunmen who attacked multiple targets in Mumbai, killing 166 people, were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

India suspended peace talks with its long-time South Asian rival immediately after the attacks.

That dialogue was recently resumed, but India has continued to criticise Pakistan for not doing enough to bring the organisers to justice.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since attaining independence in 1947, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

In a separate statement, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said the US success in tracking down and killing bin Laden was an "historic development and victorious milestone" in the global war on terror.

But, in another clear reference to Pakistan, he also stressed the need to root out militant safe havens in South Asia.

"Over the years, thousands of innocent lives of men, women and children have been tragically lost at the hands of terrorist groups.

"The world must not let down its united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safe havens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorists in our own neighbourhood," Krishna said.

The same message was hammered home by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who said Pakistan had a long history of denying evidence that it was aiding and abetting militant groups.

"This incident establishes that Pakistan has been sheltering terrorists and now the country must take steps against them," he told reporters after visiting a military post in the desert region of Jaisalmer bordering Pakistan.

Lalit Mansingh, a former ambassador to the United States, said he believed Obama's mention of Pakistani cooperation was aimed at deflecting any criticism that the US special operation may have infringed Pakistani sovereignty.

"The fact is that Pakistan is going to have to answer some uncomfortable questions arising from this, not least of which is how bin Laden was able to hide so close to Islamabad for so long," Mansingh told AFP.

"One suspects he must have had some help from figures in the Pakistani establishment," he added.

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