India summons Pakistan envoy over shooting

NEW DELHI -- India summoned Pakistan's top diplomat in New Delhi yesterday to complain formally about an attack on an Indian army patrol in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed two soldiers and left their bodies mutilated.

India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that Pakistan has been asked to "immediately investigate these actions that are in contravention of all norms of international conduct and ensure that these do not recur."

Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan but is divided between them. The countries have fought two wars over Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in largely Hindu India, but a cease-fire between the two rivals has largely held for a decade.

India says Pakistani troops crossed the cease-fire line Tuesday and attacked Indian soldiers patrolling in the Mendhar region before retreating. The government statement said the bodies of the two killed soldiers were "subjected to barbaric and inhuman mutilation." Brig. S. Chawla, a senior Indian army officer, said one of the bodies had been decapitated.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the Indian allegations, calling them "baseless and unfounded." -- AP