No end in sight to Kashmir fighting

Indian soldiers load ammunition in the Mendhar Sector on the Line of Control with Pakistan in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India -- A diplomatic initiative by US Secretary of State Colin Powell has failed to cool tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan.

The two countries have engaged in military and verbal jousts since his departure on Wednesday, despite assurances from both sides that they would seek peace through dialogue.

India on Thursday said Pakistani troops had opened fire at several points along the military control line that divides the rivals in Kashmir.

Indian defense officials said the small arms firing had been going on for about six hours in the Akhnoor sector, but stressed that it was an exchange that was not uncommon along the tense control line.

"It is not alarming, civilians in the area are going about their business," Brigadier P.C. Das told Reuters news agency. Akhnoor is about 35 km (22 miles) from Jammu, the winter capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

Sporadic exchange of firing was also reported from two other sectors, but no details were given.

India, which has threatened punitive action against militants intruding into its side of Kashmir from Pakistan, launched heavy mortar fire at Pakistani posts earlier in the week.

Pakistan on alert

Powell visited Pakistan and India to try and soothe tension between the two Asian nations

Pakistan said on Wednesday had put its armed forces on high alert, claiming that it had detected Indian troop movements near its shared border.

India denied it had moved troops, calling the claim a "complete fabrication".

"Reports of a troop build up are a complete fabrication," Indian government spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said. "We reject such statements in their totality and restraint should be exercised by the spokesman on the Pakistan side."

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared again Monday in Kashmir, when the Indian Army said that it had shelled 11 Pakistani military posts across the cease-fire line, destroying them.

Pakistani officials in Kashmir said two areas had been attacked and accused India of unprovoked firing on civilians.

Kashmir, which has a majority Muslim population, has been a decades-long source of tension between Indian and Pakistan which have fought two wars over the region.

Powell visit

The fighting continued despite a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to Pakistan and India.

Powell earlier told his Indian counterpart that the American-led fight against terrorism includes all terrorism, including that faced by India.

Speaking at a press conference following talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Powell said: "We deplore terrorism wherever it exists, whether on September 11 or on October 1 in Srinagar."

The latter incident referred to the suicide bombing at Kashmir's state assembly in which 38 people died -- India has blamed Kashmiri militants backed by Pakistan for carrying out the attack.