Fierce Fighting Flares on the Indo-Pakistani Frontier

An unusually bloody battle between Indian and Pakistani forces is unfolding along the countries’ disputed Himalayan border, prompting fears of a wider war between the two nuclear-armed states.

The Indian army is rushing thousands of troops to confront a force of guerrillas and Pakistani troops that has apparently seized Indian territory, Indian government spokesmen and sources with knowledge of the fighting said Tuesday.

India today launched airstrikes with fighter jets and helicopter gunships against Pakistani infiltrators inside India.

An Indian air force spokesman said the operations would continue until the infiltrators are vanquished.

“Any responsibility for escalation of this conflict will rest with Pakistan,” R.K. Dhingra, the Indian air force spokesman, said.

The News, a reputable English-language national newspaper in Pakistan, reported today that Pakistan had placed its military forces on high alert.

The clash would represent some of the fiercest fighting since the end of the last Indo-Pakistani war in 1971.

The boasts of a Pakistani-based guerrilla organization over the weekend appeared to buttress the Indian claims of a large armed incursion. An organization called Tehrik-e-Jihad claimed that its fighters had occupied 40 square miles and killed more than 100 Indian soldiers. Pakistani press reports suggested that at least one Indian military post had been destroyed.

Sources said India has dispatched heavy artillery and helicopters to the snowcapped region to join the fight. An Indian spokesman asserted Tuesday that the invading force from Pakistan had been surrounded and that more than 100 fighters had been killed.

The shooting grew so intense Tuesday that India’s caretaker prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, called Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif to warn him against further incursions, the Press Trust of India reported.

“We are facing a new challenge,” Vajpayee said later. “We will not allow any intrusion to take place in our territory.”

Pakistani officials issued vague statements about their role in the fighting but hurled angry threats at their historic rival. Sharif promised a “befitting response to any Indian adventure.” The chief of the army staff warned against any violations of Pakistani airspace.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they attained independence from Britain in 1947--two over the disputed region of Kashmir. Pakistan backs an armed insurgency in the Indian-occupied portion of Kashmir, and at least 25,000 people have died in fighting.

Last May, India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, marking the subcontinent as one of the most dangerous regions in the world. Western experts say that the two countries have not yet taken basic steps to manage their competition, and these experts say they fear that shooting in Kashmir could escalate into a nuclear exchange.

According to sources familiar with the fighting, the current battle began early this month when a force of about 600 guerrillas crossed the Indian frontier from Pakistan. A battalion of regular Pakistani army forces also moved into a region previously occupied by Indian forces, the sources said.

While the two countries regularly shell each other along a 450-mile stretch of disputed border, commanders on both sides have long maintained strict control over their forces to ensure that the fighting doesn’t explode.

“The military action and level of intensity is unusually high,” said Michael Krepon, president of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a Washington think tank. “I don’t think anyone can be confident that further escalation will not occur.”

Many people cheered in February when Vajpayee took a symbolic bus trip into Pakistan, prompting promises of peace and cooperation. But the collapse of the Indian coalition government last month has dashed any immediate hopes for better relations or detailed agreements on nuclear weapons.

“It’s going to be a very hot summer,” Krepon said.

Amitabh Sharma of The Times’ New Delhi Bureau and Kamal Siddiqi in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.