India mulls response to Kashmir raid

Tuesday's raid has sparked tensions in South Asia

NEW DELHI, India -- Top Indian ministers met military chiefs to talk about how to respond to a deadly raid in Kashmir that New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and intelligence officials met on Thursday, but officials said nothing would be announced until Friday.

The talks came as U.S. officials tried to persuade the two nuclear powers to avoid an all-out war.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on the heels of a stop in New Delhi.

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Rocca said the Bush administration is monitoring the situation on the subcontinent very closely.

Pakistani police have arrested the leader of the group India blames for Tuesday's attack, but New Delhi says Islamabad hasn't done enough to stop the violence.

Pakistan has condemned the attack but said it was prepared for any military response from India.

Bloody raid

"The contents of the meeting will be disclosed in parliament on Friday," an Indian home ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency.

Indian soldiers took their positions during Tuesday's raid

On Tuesday, suspected Islamic guerrillas opened fire in a bus and then shot their way into an army camp housing families of soldiers.

The raid in the disputed Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir left at least 33 people dead, mainly women and children.

Washington fears even limited military action by India could escalate into war and derail its fight to root out al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has told U.S. President George W. Bush he would take "appropriate action," Indian officials told Reuters, without elaborating.

'Deplorable'

During an address to parliament on Wednesday Vajpayee called Tuesday's raid "a deplorable act, that must be formally opposed."

The attack was the deadliest in eight months in the Himalayan region, which is at the heart of a tense military standoff between the two neighbors.

Bush, meanwhile, called Vajpayee to voice his condolences for the "terrorist attack."

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, and have hundreds of thousands of troops on war alert along their frontier following a December raid on India's parliament.

More than a dozen Islamic groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India since the militant insurgency began in 1989.

Authorities say that around 30,000 people have been killed during the campaign in the Muslim majority state.

India accuses Islamabad of arming and training Pakistan-based militant groups but Pakistan denies the charges, saying instead it only provides moral and diplomatic support for Kashmiri separatists.

India controls about 45 percent of Muslim-majority Kashmir, Pakistan a third and China the rest.