India, Pakistan tensions flare along the border in disputed Kashmir following deadly attack on tourists
Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said Saturday, as tensions flared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists last week.
India described the massacre, in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, as a "terror attack" and accused Pakistan of backing it.
Pakistan denies the charge. The assault, near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
It was the restive region's worst assault targeting civilians in years. In the days since, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. The region is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
The Indian army said Saturday that soldiers from multiple Pakistani army posts overnight opened fire at Indian troops "all across the Line of Control" in Kashmir. "Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms," the statement said. There were no casualties reported, the statement added.
There was no comment from Pakistan, and the incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region.
Markets and bazaars were open in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Saturday, and there was no sign of evacuations from villages near the Line of Control.
After the tourist attack, India suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and closed the only functional land border crossing. It revoked visas issued to Pakistanis with effect from Sunday.
Pakistan retaliated by canceling visas issued to Indians, closing its airspace to Indian airlines, and suspending trade with its neighbor. Nationals from both sides began heading to their home countries through the Wagah border near Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Friday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday vowed the government would respond "with full force and might" to Indian attempts to stop or divert the flow of water.
He also said Pakistan was open to participating in any "neutral, transparent and credible investigation" into the tourist attack.
On Saturday, a Pakistani official from the disaster management agency, Saeed Qureshi, accused India of suddenly releasing large amounts of water into the Jhelum River, raising fears of flooding in parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Authorities told residents living along the riverbank to evacuate, Qureshi said. A spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism, a charge Pakistan rejects. Many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989 for uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
With tensions high, Iran offered mediation, while U.S. President Trump said he expected them to work out their differences.
"Tehran stands ready to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to forge greater understanding at this difficult time," Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday.
"India and Pakistan are brotherly neighbors of Iran. Like other neighbors, we consider them our foremost priority," Araghchi wrote in a social media post.
Trump on Friday said, "There's great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been."
Trump, who spoke on board Air Force One, did not answer when asked by reporters whether he would contact leaders of the two countries, but said "they'll get it figured out one way or the other."
The U.S. has long called for calm between India and Pakistan, and mediated during a major border skirmish in 1999.
U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard expressed solidarity with India in its hunt for the perpetrators of the recent attack.
After Tuesday's assault, Indian forces intensified a crackdown in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion. They detained and questioned at least 1,500 people, three police officials said.
Troops detonated explosives in the family homes of at least three suspected militants in southern Kashmir Friday night, residents said. In one such incident, dozens of other houses also suffered damage, with their windowpanes shattering and walls cracking due to the impact of the blast.
The police officials insisted on anonymity, in keeping with their departmental policy, while the villagers feared reprisals from authorities.
Early Friday, troops also destroyed the family homes of two suspected militants they accused of being involved in Tuesday's attack.
Indian troops demolish homes as a common anti-militancy tactic in Kashmir.
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