SRINAGAR, India — Indian officials said the army had a brief exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers along their highly militarized frontier in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, as the nuclear-armed rivals ramped up tit-for-tat diplomatic offensive following a deadly attack on tourists in the disputed area.

The report of a gunfight comes amid soaring tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad after gunmen killed 26 people near the resort town of Pahalgam in Kashmir on Tuesday. India immediately described the massacre a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.

Pakistan denied any connection to the attack, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.

Three Indian army officials said that Pakistani soldiers used small arms to fire at an Indian position in Kashmir late Thursday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy, said Indian soldiers retaliated and no casualties were reported.

In Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday decline to confirm or deny the report. Ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told a news conference that “I will wait for a formal confirmation from the military before I make any comment.”

He added there had been no effort yet from any other country to mediate.

In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in Kashmir, which both claim in its entirety.

The United Nations has urged India and Pakistan “to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure that the situation and the developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further.”

“Any issues between Pakistan and India, we believe can be and should be resolved peacefully, through meaningful, mutual engagement,” the statement said Friday.

Following the attack, India announced a series of diplomatic actions against Pakistan.

New Delhi on Wednesday suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty that has withstood two wars between the two countries and closed the only functional land border crossing between the countries while also cutting the number of diplomatic staff. A day later, India revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals with effect from Sunday.

In retaliation, Pakistan on Thursday responded angrily that it has nothing to do with the attack, and canceled visas issued to Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country.

It also warned that any Indian attempt to stop or divert flow of water would be considered an “act of war” and met with “full force across the complete spectrum” of Pakistan’s national power.

Tuesday’s attack in Kashmir was the worst assault in years, targeting civilians in the restive region that has seen an anti-India rebellion for more than three decades.

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir. New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.

___

Roy reported from New Delhi. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Johannes Simon via Getty Images

A string of recent attacks

Demands for political consequences

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Elon Musk called Thursday to “delete entire agencies” from the United States’ federal government as part of his push under President Donald Trump to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities.

Musk offered a wide-ranging survey via a videocall to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, of what he described as the priorities of the Trump administration interspersed with multiple references to “thermonuclear warfare” and the possible dangers of artificial intelligence.

“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people — democracy,” Musk said, wearing a black T-shirt that read: “Tech Support.” He also joked that he was the “White House’s tech support,” borrowing from his profile on the social platform X, which he owns.

“I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind,” Musk said. “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”

While Musk has spoken to the summit in the past, his appearance Thursday comes as he has consolidated control over large swaths of the government with Trump’s blessing since assuming leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency. That’s included sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and inviting a constitutional clash over the limits of presidential authority.

Musk’s new role imbued his comments with more weight beyond being the world’s wealthiest person through his investments in SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla.

His remarks also offered a more-isolationist view of American power in the Middle East, where the U.S. has fought wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“A lot of attention has been on USAID for example,” Musk said, referring to Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “There’s like the National Endowment for Democracy. But I’m like, ‘Okay, well, how much democracy have they achieved lately?’”

He added that the U.S. under Trump is “less interested in interfering with the affairs of other countries.”

There are “times the United States has been kind of pushy in international affairs, which may resonate with some members of the audience,” Musk said, speaking to the crowd in the UAE, an autocratically ruled nation of seven sheikhdoms.

“Basically, America should mind its own business, rather than push for regime change all over the place,” he said.

He also noted the Trump administration’s focus on eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion work, at one point linking it to AI.

“If hypothetically, AI is designed for DEI, you know, diversity at all costs, it could decide that there’s too many men in power and execute them,” Musk said.

On AI, Musk said he believed X’s newly updated AI chatbot, Grok 3, would be ready in about two weeks, calling it at one point “kind of scary.” He criticized Sam Altman’s management of OpenAI, which Musk just led a $97.4 billion takeover bid for, describing it as akin to a nonprofit aimed at saving the Amazon rainforest becoming a “lumber company that chops down the trees.”

Musk also announced plans for a “Dubai Loop” project in line with his work in the Boring Company — which is digging tunnels in Las Vegas to speed transit. However, he and the Emirati government official speaking with him offered no immediate details of the plan.

“It’s going to be like a wormhole,” Musk promised. “You just wormhole from one part of the city — boom — and you’re out in another part of the city.”

NEW ORLEANS — As New Orleans prepares to host the Super Bowl next month, Louisiana authorities cleared homeless encampments around the stadium on Wednesday and relocated many to a temporary warehouse facility that costs millions of dollars to operate.

Gov. Jeff Landry framed the sweep — which city officials say undermines their efforts to address homelessness — as part of a move to secure New Orleans, especially in the aftermath of the New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 people.

The tough-on-crime Republican governor has talked about plans to improve Louisiana’s most popular city ahead of the Super Bowl at the Superdome. That has included a new Louisiana State Police troop dedicated to New Orleans, removing homeless encampments elsewhere in the city, and ensuring highways, sidewalks and transportation lines are clean and safe.

“It is in the best interest of every citizen’s safety and security to give the unhoused humane and safe shelter as we begin to welcome the world to the City of New Orleans for both Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras,” Landry said in a Monday statement.

Last week, the state’s Supreme Court overturned a restraining order that had barred the state police from clearing homeless encampments in New Orleans. Days after the ruling, “relocation notices” from the state appeared at one of the city’s largest homeless encampments beneath an underpass near the Superdome. The notice warned that “everyone must comply” and “failure to do so may result in enforcement actions or legal proceedings.”

On Wednesday morning state police converged on the encampment and told people to pack their possessions into boxes and that there were buses to take them to a “transitional center” miles away at a fenced-in warehouse owned by the Port of New Orleans.

People at the encampment were told that they did not have to go to the transitional center, but they were not allowed to remain in the area and were under threat of arrest, Mike Steele, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told The Associated Press.

Among those at the encampment was Ray Cooper, who scoured for his social security card amid scattered clothes, bicycles and tents. Cooper, 35, has lived mostly on the streets for the past few years and declined the state’s offer to bring him to the transitional center.

“That just turned me off — we’re going to a warehouse? I’m not a UPS package or anything like that, I’m a human,” said Cooper.

The temporary center has the capacity to house 200 people. As of Wednesday evening, 131 people were staying there, said Bart Farmer, the president of Workforce Group, a company that specializes in post-disaster assistance and is operating the site.

The center includes three meals a day, bedding, showers, toilets, refrigeration for medication and veterinary care for their pets, according to the relocation notice. The site is estimated to cost the state $16.2 million to operate over a 90-day period, according to a proposal crafted by the Workforce Group and obtained by the AP.

Critics argue the relocations to the center are a band-aid solution. In a letter sent to the governor from 12 community organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, the groups expressed “serious reservations about the effectiveness, cost-efficiency and long-term impact of this approach.”

“Evidence-based best practices for ending homelessness are centered on permanent housing with supportive services,” said Martha Kegel, who leads UNITY, an agency which partners with the city on efforts to house and support its homeless population.

Part of Landry’s homeless strategy, announced on Monday, states that housing and services will be prioritized for “citizens that have jobs” and that people “who have means will be given bus or train tickets out of state.” While details surrounding the plan are still unclear, Steele said that relocations out of state would be voluntary.

Landry’s approach clashes with the City of New Orleans’ plans to close these same encampments by first providing long-term housing to people living in them. The city said it has requested $6 million from the state to assist in these efforts and that state-led sweeps cause “delays” in providing housing and services to the approximately 1,500 homeless people in the city.

Candice Allison, 63, who said she had been homeless since Hurricane Ida destroyed her trailer in 2021, sorted through a mass of clothes and other items she hoped to salvage on Wednesday, fearing authorities would return to confiscate her possessions.

“I’ve been doing this all night, I haven’t ate, I haven’t slept, I’m exhausted,” Allison said.

——

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on X: @jack_brook96