MUMBAI (AFP)---India marked the first anniversary Thursday of last year's attacks on Mumbai with a show of strength and ceremonies to honour the 166 victims killed in a deadly rampage by 10 heavily-armed Islamist gunmen.
The day of remembrance came as India continued to push Pakistan, where the militants are believed to have trained, to crack down on extremist groups amid lingering concerns about lax homeland security.
Police paraded through Mumbai and abseiled down tall buildings, showing off new hardware, including armour-plated vehicles and amphibious vehicles bought as part of a 1.3-billion-rupee (27-million-dollar) upgrade package.
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Rabbi Abraham Berkowitz (C), Director of the Jewish Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch Movement in Mumbai speaks at a memorial service in memory of last year's terror attack victims at the Keneseth
Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai on November 25, 2009.
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Silent tributes were held by Indian lawmakers in parliament and by cricketers before their Test match with Sri Lanka, as prayers and vigils were held across India's financial capital.
Candles were lit at a Mumbai synagogue on Wednesday, with faith leaders and foreign diplomats calling for unity to fight and defeat extremism around the world.
The Chabad House in the south of Mumbai, a cultural, religious and open house for visiting Jews and the local community, was one of a number of high-profile targets selected by the terrorists.
Six people were killed in the house, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his pregnant wife, Rivki, 28, who had come to India from New York five years earlier to establish the Chabad House.
"Their holy space was violated in the most brutal, evil fashion," said Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, director of a relief fund set up after the attacks by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to which the Holtzbergs belonged.
"Nariman House, Chabad House has become the symbol for the entire world of the stark contrast between good and evil in the world," Berkowitz he said.
Two luxury hotels that were among the targets, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and the Trident-Oberoi, took out full-page newspaper advertisements, paying tribute to victims and thanking guests, staff and the security services.
Prakash Madhusadan Joshi, a medical doctor from western Gujarat state, lit candles outside the Taj and the landmark Gateway of India monument with his wife and four children
"The idea is to allow the spirit of the people who died to rest in peace. This is to remember them," he told AFP.
Varsha Shah flew in from Canada especially for the anniversary and said she was pleased to see more visible security.
"I see more police at the airport, more patrolling on the roads. It's a good sign. But we need to constantly keep up the effort," she added
The bloody 60-hour siege, beamed live across the world on television, shocked the country, sparked a public backlash against the Indian government for not preventing the attacks and led to a global investigation.
Seven suspects were indicted in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Wednesday in connection with the attacks. They all denied the charges.
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Nariman House, in south Mumbai, until last year a little-known Jewish cultural and religious centre run by the orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, staged a memorial service that was broadcast live on the Internet.
Six people died at Chabad House, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who ran it, and his pregnant wife. Rivki.
Their toddler son, Moshe, was plucked to safety by his Indian nanny. The couple's parents flew in from Israel to attend the event, after attending the third birthday of the couple's orphaned son. Freida Holtzberg said: "It's very emotional. Coming back was very important to me."
Rivki's father, Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, said Moshe, now aged three, hadrecently asked him: "Where is my mother and father? I told him, 'They have gone to the heaven. He said, 'I want to go to heaven too'."
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Two men detained by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Chicago are also being probed by Indian authorities for their links to the atrocities, blamed by India on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
Two Pakistanis are in custody in Italy after being arrested last week on suspicion of having sent money to people implicated in the attacks.
The only gunman captured alive admitted his role in the killings during hishigh-profile trial in Mumbai, which could see him executed if found guilty.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on a visit to the United States this week, called for the world to pressure Pakistan to rein in extremists.
The attacks ended peace talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and rivals, with India vowing not to return to the table until all those responsible were brought to justice.
Singh, who welcomed the indictment against the LeT suspects, called for the
world to "use all its influence to curb the power of terrorist groups" inPakistan, which has seen a rise in Taliban-linked violence.
Pakistan has admitted under international pressure that the gunmen left for Mumbai from the southern port city of Karachi.
Security has been improved in Mumbai in the last year after criticisms that the police lacked men, equipment and training to respond effectively.
Luxury hotels have introduced airport-style checks and there is a visible armed police presence at key locations, while private security firms have seen an upsurge in business for corporate clients.
Elite commandos are now stationed in Mumbai and local police have set up their own rapid reaction units.
India's Home Ministry said Thursday that it was "totally committed" to tackling extremism."A number of sleeper cells have been broken up, key LeT operatives arrested, terrorist incidents averted and a large number of cases resolved," it added in a statement.
But commentators say more still needs to be done to prevent another attack, with coastal security and boosting police capacity a priority.