India announced on Monday that it had responded to “unprovoked” firing from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, as the search for militants intensifies following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.
After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India identified two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani, though Islamabad has denied any involvement and called for an impartial investigation.
Survivors and security officials reported that the militants separated the men at the scene, a meadow in the Pahalgam area, asked for their names, and specifically targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range.
The attack sparked widespread outrage and grief in Hindu-majority India, alongside calls for action against Islamic Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.
The nuclear-armed countries have escalated tensions, with India suspending the critical Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
The Indian Army stated 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 dividing the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. No further details were provided, and no casualties were reported.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement, the Pakistan Army said it had killed 54 Islamist militants attempting to enter the country from the Afghanistan border in the past two days.
Since the attack, India’s defense forces have conducted several military exercises across the country. Some of these are routine preparedness drills, according to a defense official.
Security forces have detained around 500 people for questioning after searching nearly 1,000 houses and forests for militants in Indian Kashmir, a local police official told Reuters on Monday.
At least nine houses have been demolished, the official added.
Political leaders in the state have urged caution to ensure that innocent people are not harmed in the government’s actions against terrorism following 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,” said Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, on X on Saturday.
Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, denied involvement in last week’s attack in a post on X, after an earlier message had claimed responsibility.
The group, considered an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba by a Delhi-based think tank, blamed a “cyber intrusion” for the earlier post that claimed responsibility.
