INDIAN and Pakistani soldiers briefly exchanged fire along their highly militarised frontier in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, Indian officials said today as tensions soared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists.

India has described the massacre in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian, as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it.

Pakistan denied any connection to Tuesday’s attack near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir. It was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.

With the region on edge, three Indian army officials said that Pakistani soldiers fired at an Indian position in Kashmir late on Thursday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Indian soldiers retaliated and no casualties were reported.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the report.

Since the attack this week, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.