India army accuses Pakistan of killing troops in Kashmir

Pakistan denied any involvement in the deaths - two days after it accused Indian troops of killing a Pakistani soldier in a cross-border raid.

The shootings took place near Mendhar, 140 miles north of the Indian-controlled Jammu.

Indian army officer Brigadier S Chawla said Pakistani troops crossed the ceasefire line under cover of thick fog and retreated after a brief gun battle.

"This is yet another grave provocation which is being taken up sternly through official channels."

He said one of the bodies had been mutilated.

The dead soldiers were named as Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.

Muslim-majorty Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both mainly Hindu India and Islamic republic Pakistan and has been the cause of full-scale wars in 1947, 1965 and 1999.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin confirmed that military commanders from both states had been in touch since the violence.

Such contact normally occurs to stop confrontations escalating but the earlier exchange received relatively little media attention in either country.

A 2003 ceasefire ended the last round of serious conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations and cross-border deaths are now relatively rare.

As well as the state-level tensions, India faces an Islamist insurgency in Kashmir, where it accuses Pakistan of supporting militants.