Ind, Pak exchange small arms fire across Kashmir border for fourth night

SRINAGAR: India claimed on Monday it had ‘responded’ to ‘unprovoked’ firing from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, as it deepens its search for militants in the region following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in Indian Occupied Kashmir.

After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India has identified two of the three suspected militants allegedly as Pakistani, although Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.

The attack triggered outrage and grief in India, along with calls for action against Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.

The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.

The Indian Army said it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from multiple Pakistan Army posts around midnight on Sunday along the 740-km (460-mile) de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. It gave no further details and reported no casualties.

The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.

India’s defence forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since the attack. Some of these are routine preparedness drills, a defence official said.

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Security forces have detained around 500 people for questioning after they searched nearly 1,000 houses and forests hunting for militants in Indian Occupied Kashmir, a local police official told Reuters on Monday.

At least nine houses have been demolished so far, the official added.

Political leaders in the state have called for caution to ensure the innocent are not harmed in the government’s actions against terrorism after the deadliest incident of its kind in India in nearly two decades.

“It’s time to… avoid any misplaced action that alienates people. Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage,” Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said on X on Saturday.

Another former chief minister made an appeal to the Indian government “to take care that innocent people are not made to feel the brunt as alienation aids terrorists’ goals of division and fear.”

Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, said in a post on X that it “unequivocally” denied involvement in last week’s attack, after an initial message that claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group, considered an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba by a Delhi-based think tank, blamed a ‘cyber intrusion’ for the previous social media post that claimed responsibility.

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