July 21 (Bloomberg) -- India will press Pakistan to crack down on terrorist groups entering Jammu and Kashmir state when their foreign secretaries meet today after 10 Indian soldiers were killed in a landmine attack two days ago.

India's Shivshankar Menon will meet with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi for talks focusing on increased attacks and infiltration, India's state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported.

``I came here with an open and positive mind,'' the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Bashir as saying yesterday when he arrived in the Indian capital.

The meeting is part of talks India and Pakistan began in 2003 to improve relations after they came close to fighting a fourth war the previous year. Tensions increased after a suicide bomber earlier this month targeted India's embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least 40 people in an attack that the Afghan government said was carried out with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both, has been the cause of two of the three wars the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors have fought since their independence from Britain in 1947. Pakistan rejects Indian charges it provides support for separatists in the territory and denied any involvement in the Kabul bombing.

Separatist Groups

The so-called composite dialogue between India and Pakistan has boosted cooperation on fighting terrorism and rebuilt diplomatic, transport and sporting links.

India says the success of the talks depends on Pakistan ending support for cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, and taking steps to combat militant groups.

More than a dozen Islamic separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 for Jammu and Kashmir's independence from India. The conflict has killed about 50,000 people.

Menon and Bashir want to build on progress made when India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad in May.

Talks between the countries stalled last year because of political turmoil in Pakistan when President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule in November. Pro-Musharraf parties were defeated in general elections in February and India is working to build ties with the new democratic administration led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Pro-Pakistan militant group Hizbul Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the July 19 attack in Kashmir, Agence France- Presse reported. The soldiers were traveling from Uri, bordering Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to the Indian army's main headquarters in Srinagar, the news agency said.

India's Defense Ministry said 14 soldiers were injured in the incident.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 20, 2008 21:16 EDT