Pakistan responsible for Kashmir bomb attack

India’s top military commander in the disputed Kashmir region accused Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence spy agency of being involved in a deadly bomb attack last week on an Indian security convoy.

“It was being controlled from across by ISI and Pakistan and JeM commanders,” Lieutenant-General K.J.S. Dhillon said at a press conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.

At least 40 Indian paramilitary forces were killed in the suicide attack on a road in Kashmir on Thursday. Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack has escalated tension between the two nuclear-armed countries. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a strong response to the attack.

Pakistan, however, denied any complicity in the attack and has appealed to the United Nations to intervene.

It has also demanded India to conduct an open and credible investigation into the attack to back up its claims.

“Attributing it to Pakistan even before investigations is absurd,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a letter to the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres seeking U.N. involvement to lower tension.

“It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India,” he said.

Indian commander noted ISI’s close links with the Jaish.

“The JeM is a child of the Pakistan army, and the ISI. The attack was masterminded by Pakistan, ISI and JeM,” Dhillon said.