"INDIAN SOLDIERS 'MURDERED'&'BEHEADED' BY PAKISTAN IN KASHMIR"

In the second clash in three days between soldiers from the nuclear-armed rivals, an Indian patrol found Pakistani troops about half a mile inside Indian territory, an army spokesman said.

A firefight broke out and two Indian soldiers were killed. Indian army sources claimed that one of the soldiers was decapitated and his head taken away by retreating Pakistani troops. His body was found "badly mutilated" in a forested area of the Himalayan territory, said Rajesh K. Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army's Northern Command.

"We can confirm that one of the Indian soldiers was beheaded by the Pakistani army in Kashmir," the spokesman J Dahiya told AFP.

"It was a dastardly act as they have taken away the head," he added.

Military sources had earlier indicated that the soldier had been decapitated but Dahiya said he was only able to confirm the beheading on Wednesday afternoon after the victim's next of kin had been informed.

A spokesman for the Pakistan army denied that its forces launched an "unprovoked" attack and dismissed the claims as Indian propaganda.

Salman Khurshid, India's minister for external affairs, described the incident as "unacceptable, ghastly" and "short-sighted" on the part of Pakistan. He said any response would be "proportionate".

India's ministry of defence issued a statement denouncing the incident as a "provocative act" and said the government would take it up with Pakistan.

The news that Pakistani and Indian soldiers are engaged in what look like escalating tit-for-tat deadly attacks is very bad in itself, but making matters worse is Wali Ur Rehman, a leader of the Pakistani Taliban who in a rare video statement has threatened “to send fighters in Kashmir and wage a struggle for implementation of Sharia rule in India”, as Outlook Indiareports.