India closes main Pakistan border crossing after attack

India has announced a raft of measures to downgrade its ties with Pakistan, a day after militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades.

The attack has plunged relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours to their worst levels for several years, with some commentators concerned that India's diplomatic salvo may be only an initial response, and that military action is a very real prospect.

The violence marked a dramatic shift towards targeting civilians and the area's vital tourism industry, rather than smaller scale attacks against Indian security forces, which are more common.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing that the cross-border linkages of the attack had been "brought out" at a special meeting of the security cabinet, after which it was decided to act against Pakistan.

He announced the immediate end of a crucial river water treaty that allows for sharing the waters of the Indus river system between the two countries.

The defence advisers in the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata and asked to leave, Mr Misri said, adding that the overall strength of the Indian high commission in Islamabad will be reduced to 30 from 55.

The main border crossing between the two countries will be closed with immediate effect and Pakistani nationals will not be allowed to travel to India under special visas.

Indian security agencies say the attack was carried out by Pakistan-based militants.

At least 17 people were also injured in the shooting that took place yesterday in the Baisaran valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic Himalayan federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency has waned in recent years.

After India's diplomatic measures, Pakistan said it would convene its National Security Committee, composed of senior civil and military officials, and summoned only in cases of external threat or major attack.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that those responsible for the "heinous act" will be brought to justice.

"Their evil agenda will never succeed," Mr Modi said in a statement shortly after the attack. "Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger."

A little-known militant group, the "Kashmir Resistance," claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 "outsiders" had been settled in the region, spurring a "demographic change".

Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militant violence in Kashmir and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the insurgency there.