Nepal, Feb. 20 -- Tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Indian and Pakistan are mounting following the deadliest militant attack in Kashmir's three-decade separatist insurgency. Government forces surrounded a village in the southern Pulwama area early Monday on a tip that militants were hiding there, security officials said. As troops began conducting searches, they came under heavy gunfire, leading to a firefight that killed four soldiers, two suspected militants and a civilian.

Another soldier was wounded in the operation, which follows the Feb. 14 suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 soldiers, the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmir's history. India has blamed the attack on Pakistan ...