India said on Monday it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, amid a growing search for militants in the region following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.
The attack on April 22, which killed 26 people, led India to identify two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani, although Islamabad denied any involvement and called for a neutral investigation. Security officials and survivors said the militants segregated the men at the site, a meadow in the Pahalgam area, asked for their names, and targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range.
The attack has sparked outrage in Hindu-majority India, with calls for action against Islamic Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of funding and supporting terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over. In response, the two nuclear-armed nations have imposed a range of retaliatory measures, including India suspending the critical Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
China, a key regional player, called on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and welcomed any measures that would help ease tensions.
The Indian Army reported it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from multiple Pakistan Army posts around midnight on Sunday along the 740-km (460-miles) de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. The army provided no further details and reported no casualties. The Pakistani military did not comment on the incident.
In a separate statement, the Pakistan Army announced it had killed 54 Islamist militants attempting to cross the Afghanistan border into Pakistan over the past two days.
India’s defence forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since the attack. While some of these are routine preparedness drills, a defence official confirmed.
Security forces have detained around 500 people for questioning after searching nearly 1,000 houses and forests in Indian Kashmir in their hunt for militants, a local police official said on Monday. At least nine houses have been demolished, the official added.
Political leaders in the state have called for caution to ensure the innocent are not harmed in the government’s counter-terrorism efforts, following the deadliest such incident in India in nearly two decades.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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