Baramulla attack: Indian defence minister holds high-level security meeting with chiefs of army, navy and air force

Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is holding a high-level security meeting with the chiefs of the army, navy and air force following the attack on the Baramulla army base in Indian-administered Kashmir. Parrikar's meeting takes place even as Indian and Pakistani forces have traded fire in more than one border area in the last few hours.

Parrikar's meeting also comes minutes after Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation with the prime minister's national security adviser, Ajit Doval. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been kept updated about the situation.

Meanwhile, Singh has landed in Leh to visit Kargil, the second largest town in Ladakh, where the two countries fought a lengthy war in 1999. He said India would give a "befitting reply" and warned Pakistan against further "provocations".

At 10.30 pm on Sunday (2 October), the Indian army camp in Baramulla witnessed an attack from heavily armed gunmen stoking fresh tensions in the already-volatile region. This was the second attack on an Indian army post within a fortnight; the first one earlier in September claimed the lives of 19 Indian soldiers.

On the Pakistani side, there has been no official comment on the Baramulla attack but Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's senior adviser on foreign affairs, has revealed high-level contact has been established between the two countries. This is the first such communication between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their ties took a turn for the worse in recent months.

Aziz said the national security advisers of Pakistan and India spoke to each other on telephone in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. He said: "Both officials stressed on the need to establish contact to reduce tensions along the Line of Control [LoC]. The prime minister had indicated quite clearly that till the issue of Kashmir was not resolved, tensions across the border would remain."

Amid these developments, Indian and Pakistani forces have exchanged gunfire across several positions on the border with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire agreement first.

"Indian troops yet again resorted to unprovoked firing after midnight. Pakistani troops befittingly responded," said a brief statement from the Pakistani army while the Indian side took a similar line against Islamabad.

Prime Minister Sharif is also holding a high-level meeting with the leaders of all the political parties to discuss the country's defence posture in the wake of the tensions.