New Delhi - Indian fighter jets pounded infiltrators in Kashmir mountain hideouts yesterday as the United States stepped up pressure on Pakistan to bring the confrontation in the region off the boil. While India denied that Washington's involvement amounted to third-party mediation, it welcomed mounting support from Western nations and prepared to receive a US State Department official tomorrow and then send its most senior diplomat to London and Paris for talks early next week.
Earlier US State Department spokesman Mr James Rubin had pointedly blamed Pakistan for supporting the hundreds of infiltrators holed up on strategic Himalayan heights on the Indian side of Kashmir's military control line.
In the fighting, the Indian air force said yesterday that new weapon delivery systems had helped it inflict "significant damage" in the Drass sector of northern Kashmir, where dozens of infiltrators are occupying strategic vantage points across the towering Tiger Hills.