India's PM to Visit Kashmir Border

KUPWARA, India –– India's prime minister visited soldiers on the tense Kashmir frontier Wednesday, telling them to prepare for a "decisive battle" against Pakistan-supported Islamic insurgents. Cross-border shelling has killed dozens and reignited fears of war between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Hundreds of soldiers in bulletproof vests patrolled the mountain roads surrounding the army base where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed soldiers, many with minesweeping equipment and sniffer dogs. Helicopters hovered above.

Vajpayee asked the soldiers "to be ready for sacrifice. Your goal should be victory. It's time to fight a decisive battle. We'll write a new chapter of victory."

Shortly after Vajpayee arrived in Kashmir province on Tuesday, masked gunmen assassinated a leading Kashmiri peace advocate during a ceremony marking the murder of another independence leader 12 years ago.