J&K terror attack: India eyes ‘retaliation’

• Modi vows 'harshest response', says world is standing with India
• Pak troops kill 54 militants who tried to infiltrate from Afghanistan
• Indian military holds naval drills in the Arabian Sea 

Troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire in disputed Kashmir for a third night in a row, officials said yesterday, as Indian media reported that New Delhi is mulling military retaliation over the Kashmir terror attack.

The Indian Express newspaper yesterday quoted a top government source as saying "there will be military retaliation" and officials "are discussing the nature of the strike".

"There will be military retaliation, and we are prepared. We are discussing the nature of the strike… Since 2019, we have taken a series of measures to modernise our weapons. We have the option of targeting the terrorists from within our territory," the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

India has accused Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism" after gunmen killed 26 people in the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter of a century.

Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals plunged to their lowest level in years after the attack.

Islamabad has denied any involvement, calling attempts to link Pakistan to the attack "frivolous" and vowing to respond to any Indian action.

The Indian military yesterday held naval drills -- releasing images of warships firing missiles -- while the country's security forces pressed on with their hunt for those behind the April 22 attack at a tourist hotspot in Pahalgam.

The military also blamed Pakistan for the "unprovoked" firing of small arms along Kashmir's Line of Control that separates the two countries.

"(Our) own troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire," it said of the latest incident, which has not been reported by Pakistan.

Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile, India's federal home ministry has handed over the attack probe to the National Investigation Agency, which focuses on counter-terrorism.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday reiterated his pledge that the Pahalgam victims "will get justice".

Modi, in his monthly radio address to the nation, said the Pahalgam terror attack came at a time when peace and prosperity were returning to Kashmir and that the terrorists and masterminds of terror wanted Kashmir to be destroyed again.

He said those behind the terror attack in Pahalgam would face the "harshest response" and that the whole world was standing with India in the fight against terrorism.

On Saturday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the country was "open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation" into the attack. However, he warned against any provocations.

Yesterday, Pakistan's army said its soldiers killed "54 militants" who had tried to enter the country by crossing its northwestern border with Afghanistan.

"Movement of a large group... who were trying to infiltrate through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was detected by the security forces" in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between Friday and Sunday, according to an army statement.

The "group of jihadists was specifically infiltrating on behest of their 'foreign masters' to undertake high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan," it said, adding that 54 militants had been killed.

"Such actions by (jihadists), at a time when India is levelling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly imply on whose cues (the jihadists are) operating," it said.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. Both claim the territory in full but govern separate portions of it.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Since the Pahalgam, Indian forces have destroyed nine houses belonging to militants, a police official told AFP yesterday on condition of anonymity.

In the aftermath of the attack, New Delhi suspended a water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistanis.

In response, Islamabad has ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, cancelling visas for Indian nationals -- with the exception of Sikh pilgrims -- and closing the main border crossing from its side.

The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show "maximum restraint" so that issues can be "resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement".

Pahalgam marks a dramatic shift in recent Kashmiri rebel attacks, which typically target Indian security forces.

In 2019, a suicide attack killed 41 Indian troops in Kashmir and triggered Indian air strikes inside Pakistan, bringing the countries to the brink of all-out war.