Fighting erupts in Kashmir

Kashmiri Muslims protested against US air strikes

India has shelled 11 Pakistani military posts in the disputed territory of Kashmir after a 10-month lull in hostilities, officials said.

Pakistani officials said a woman was killed and 25 other people injured. There was no independent confirmation.

The attack coincided with the arrival in Pakistan of US Secretary of State Colin Powell for talks aimed at bolstering the international coalition against terrorism.

Powell is seeking views on a post-Taleban Afghanistan

Mr Powell, who is also to visit India, faces a diplomatic balancing act to keep the support of both countries.

Indian forces fired shells and mortars across the ceasefire line - known as the Line of Control - separating Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, to prevent cross-border infiltration, an Indian military official said.

But Pakistani officials said the attack was unprovoked and they had fired back.

In other developments:

• Intense daytime attacks are reported on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the city of Jalalabad
• The Taleban dismiss as propaganda reports of disunity in their ranks and deny reports that their foreign minister has defected
• USA Today and CBS Radio report an interview with President Musharraf in which he allegedly urged the US to remove Taleban leader Mullah Omar, but Pakistan denies the interview ever took place
• President Megawati Sukarnoputri appears to criticise the US air strikes by saying no country has the right to attack another
• A United Nations investigator calls for an end to the bombing of Afghanistan, saying food must be delivered to millions of Afghans before winter

Bush urges restraint

In Washington, President George W Bush urged India and Pakistan to show restraint while the US-led air strikes continued in Afghanistan.

Mr Powell has hinted that the United States might be prepared to restore some military contacts with Pakistan.

Colin Powell is coming to visit Pakistan to sprinkle salt on the wounds of Muslims. The nation will not tolerate his unholy steps on the soil of Pakistan

Islamic groups

But India is concerned at the prospect of its enemy gaining more US support.

India says its forces are fighting "terrorists" in Kashmir. But Pakistan sees them as freedom fighters.

India has accused Pakistan of aiding and abetting Islamic separatists who it blames for a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir which killed 38 people earlier this month.

Casualties worry Pakistan

During talks with Mr Powell, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is to raise concerns about civilian deaths and the duration of the strikes on Afghanistan.

Pakistan is concerned that the longer the eight-day-old military campaign in Afghanistan lasts, the greater the risk of civilian casualties, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Pakistan does not consider the Taleban to be terrorists, said foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan.

In Washington, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed some of the claims of civilian deaths made by the Taleban.

"Some of the numbers are ridiculous," Mr Rumsfeld said, while acknowledging that there had been casualties.

Protests in Pakistan

Before Mr Powell arrived for talks with General Musharraf in the capital Islamabad, Taleban supporters across Pakistan staged protests.

There have been violent demonstrations since the bombardment began

But there was only a mixed response to a call for a general strike by radical Islamic groups.

Shops closed in the border towns of Quetta and Peshawar, but most stayed open in Islamabad and Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi. Police used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse protesters in Karachi.

Muslims in Indian-controlled Kashmir also observed the strike.

General Musharraf has pledged support for the US-led campaign against terror.

But he must tread carefully amid much opposition in Pakistan at the attacks on a fellow Muslim country.

After the Taleban

The BBC's State Department correspondent, Jon Leyne, says a crucial part of Mr Powell's agenda will be talks about Afghanistan's political future.

He told reporters on the plane to Islamabad he had "picked up the beat" on efforts to assemble a future Afghan government.

Washington wants any new government to have broad-based support, but it does not want to be seen to be pulling the strings, our correspondent says.

Mr Powell said he had appointed State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass, as his envoy on Afghanistan. He said Mr Haass would begin meetings with UN officials this week.