SRINAGAR, April 28 (Reuters): India said on Monday it had responded to 'unprovoked' small arms firing from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, as it deepens its search for militants in the region following last week's deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.
After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India has identified two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani, although Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.
Security officials and survivors have said the militants segregated the men at the site, a meadow in the Pahalgam area, asked their names and targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range.
China, a key player in the region, said on Monday it hoped India and Pakistan will exercise restraint and welcomed all measures that will help cool down the situation.
Meanwhile Pakistan's defence minister said on Monday that a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations.
"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.
Asif said India's rhetoric was ramping up and that Pakistan's military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.
Another report adds, India has banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels, accusing them of spreading inflammatory and divisive content following the militant attack in Kashmir.
The move, taken on the Union Home Ministry's recommendation, comes amid heightened tensions between the two nations.
The banned channels include major Pakistani news outlets such as Dawn, Samaa TV, and ARY News, along with individual channels operated by journalists Irshad Bhatti, Asma Shirazi, Umar Cheema, and Muneeb Farooq.
Other affected platforms include The Pakistan Reference, Samaa Sports, Uzair Cricket and Razi Naama.
The Kashmir attack triggered outrage and grief in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Islamic Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
The Indian Army said 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 separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. It gave no further details and reported no casualties.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement, the Pakistan army said it has killed 71 Islamist militants who were trying to enter the country from the Afghanistan border to the west in the last three days.
India's defence forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since the attack. Some of these are routine preparedness drills, a defence official said.
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