India and Pakistan are scrambling resources both military and diplomatic to respond to a crisis triggered by a massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir that has heightened fears of a conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The United States is stepping up pressure on India and Pakistan to avoid conflict in Kashmir after a tourist massacre in an Indian-administered area of the divided territory last week.

For 10 nights straight, gunfire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers has echoed from the mountains and deep valleys that form the heavily defended de facto border between the nuclear-armed rivals.