Local media reported that troops on the border had exchanged heavy fire and that Pakistani troops have fired mortars in the clashes.

On Monday, India revoked the special status of Kashmir, the Himalayan region that has long been a flashpoint in ties with neighboring Pakistan, as it moves to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country.

In the most far-reaching political move in one of the world's most militarized regions in nearly seven decades, India said it would scrap a constitutional provision that allows its state of Jammu and Kashmir to make its own laws.

The government also lifted a ban on property purchases by non-residents, opening the way for Indians to invest and settle there, just as they can elsewhere in India, although the measure is likely to provoke a backlash in the region.

Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, said it strongly condemned the decision, which is bound to further strain ties between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, convulsed by a nearly 30-year armed revolt in which tens of thousands of people have died, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops deployed to quell it.

India blames that rebellion on Pakistan, which denies the accusation, saying that it backs the right to self-determination for Kashmir.

Hours earlier the Indian government launched a security crackdown in the region, arresting regional leaders and suspending telephone and internet services and restricting public movement in the main city of Srinagar.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Clashes broke out on Wednesday between Indian and Pakistani troops along the border in Kashmir, according to Fars news.