U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leaves a news conference at the JW Marriott Hanoi in Hanoi, following talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 28, 2019. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS

MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that he has spoken with the leaders of India and Pakistan amid tensions between the two countries and has urged them to avoid “any action that would escalate and greatly increase risk.”

India and Pakistan have struck each other with retaliatory airstrikes following a suicide car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police officers in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14.

Pompeo was speaking to reporters on his plane as he flew from Vietnam to the Philippines.