WASHINGTON: India���s democracy ''will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks'' in Mumbai, US President-elect Barack Obama said on Wednesday as the world reached out to India in sympathy and support over what American analysts described as ���India���s 9/11.���

Both the incumbent Bush administration and Obama and his transition team sent out strong messages of condemnation of the attacks and their backing for India even as they coordinated their response in the transition phase in the United States. President Bush phoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Camp David early on Thursday morning to offer support and US help in investigation. Soon after, an FBI team from Los Angeles, consisting of bomb and forensic experts, left for Mumbai to help in the investigation.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Obama over the phone as the White House assembled its national security and intelligence chiefs for discussion and analysis and offered India any help it required.

From Chicago, Obama also spoke to India���s ambassador Ronen Sen, to convey that his thoughts and prayers with those affected by ���this tragic situation��� and brief him about his conversations with Rice.

''These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism. The US must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks,'' Obama said in a statement issued through his national security spokesperson, Brooke Anderson.

In comments that extolled India���s institutional strength and was directed against the fundamentalist mindset in the neighbourhood, Obama also predicted the triumph of democracy over the sickening ideology of extremism even as terrorists/mujahideen earned universal disgust over the attack of Indian civilians and foreign nationals.

Audiences in the US remained glued to coverage of the Mumbai massacre more than 24 hours after the carnage began as it got wall-to-wall TV time on a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

For administration and security officials, that long weekend had already been disrupted by a mid-week security alert that spoke of possible terrorist attacks on New York���s Penn Station and other mass transit in the region; but the bloodbath occurred 10,000 miles away in Mumbai���s most famous landmarks.

The involvement of westerners, including Americans, Britons and Israelis as victims and hostages in the ordeal also ensured greater coverage than usual with US experts trying to connect the dots and link the attack to Kashmir and al-Qaida, and its possible repercussions on United States.

In fact, there was little or no surprise over the attacks given both the alert in New York and the prediction by foreign policy experts, including vice-president elect Joe Biden, that Obama could be tested by terrorist attacks early in his presidency.

US analysts mulled over the larger implications of the attack that seemed to also target westerners while suggesting that this was not a localized attack arising from home-grown militancy.

���The apparent focus on killing or capturing foreign businesspeople, specifically US and UK nationals, has never occurred before, suggesting a wider global anti-Western agenda. This stands in contrast to the national issues that appeared to motivate Indian Mujahideen,��� Jane���s Intelligence, said in a brief update on the crisis.

In Washington, the US State Department put out a hotline number (1-888-407-4747) to enable US citizens concerned about the wellbeing of friends and family in India to get information and updates. A travel advisory cautioning against travel to India was expected later in the day.

However, the Indian government did itself little credit with long periods of silence during a chaotic situation. There were no Indian spokespersons available out of New Delhi or Mumbai for the world media is get a coherent account of what was happening even 24 hours after the crisis erupted.