India, Pakistan build up border forces

An Indian soldier looks at Pakistani troops near the border

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Pakistani military forces have moved closer to the border with India amid mounting tension between the two nuclear foes.

Several Pakistani army trucks are within 122 meters (400 feet) of the Indian border, according to CNN's Syed Naqvi.

The movement, reported on Monday, comes one day after Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy fire along the border in the disputed state of Kashmir.

The latest clashes come as the South Asian arch-rivals are both on a state of high alert following a suicide attack on India's parliament this month.

India blames Islamic militants, which it says were sponsored by Pakistan's intelligence agency.

Pakistan has condemned the parliament attack in which at least 12 people were killed and says it was not involved. Islamabad has called for an international probe into the incident.

Military buildup

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Indian troops are in a state of "very high alert," the Press Trust of India news agency reported Defense Minister George Fernandes as saying on Sunday.

He said part of the Strike Corps -- trained to swiftly penetrate enemy territory with tanks and armored vehicles before a full-fledged infantry attack -- had moved nearer the frontier in Punjab and Rajasthan states.

His comments are the latest sign of a military buildup after the December 13 attack on Parliament, which India blames on two Pakistan-based Islamic groups.

Pakistan has also put its troops on high alert, and Fernandes said India's moves were in response to troop movements on the Pakistani side of the border.

"It now came to such a point that India had to take notice," he was quoted as saying.

Pakistani army units have moved to border villages, according to CNN's Naqvi, with witnesses saying they have seen Pakistani trucks carrying tanks toward the border area.

Border firing

Amid the troop buildup, India has said its troops shelled Pakistani positions in two border areas in Kashmir.

Indian troops opened fire over the Sialkot Border in Pakistan's Punjab province, witnesses said, hitting and destroying a tractor and its trailer. Pakistani troops returned fire.

Elsewhere, Indian officials said three border security force men were killed and two were wounded when Pakistani army soldiers opened fire on an Indian border post in Kashmir Sunday morning, in the Samba region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The incident could not be independently confirmed.

Cross-border skirmishes are common in Kashmir, but shelling had not been reported since the Parliament attack.

Indian demands

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India and Pakistan have fought two wars in half a century over Kashmir, a mostly Muslim region that is divided between them but claimed by both.

Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

While Indian officials have hinted repeatedly at a possible military response to the parliament attack, they have emphasized that war with Pakistan would be a last resort.

India has demanded that Pakistan freeze the assets of the two groups it blames for the attack and arrest and extradite their leaders.

It has recalled its ambassador in Pakistan and is moving to shut down rail and road links.

U.S. President George W. Bush added one of the groups India accused in the parliament attack, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, to the U.S. list of terror sponsors last week and called on Pakistan to take action against the group.

Pakistan denies India's claims that it funds and trains the militants.

In another mark of souring relations between the neighbors, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry accused Indian intelligence agents on Sunday of detaining and beating up a member of staff from its New Delhi embassy and called for a thorough investigation, Reuters news agency has reported.

-- CNN Producer Syed Naqvi contributed to this report.