British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arrived in Pakistan on Saturday under pressure to lean on Islamabad to stop Islamic militants attacking Indian targets in the disputed Kashmi region. He was due to hold talks with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inam-ul-Haq, but it was not immediately clear whether he would meet President Pervez Musharraf. On his third visit to the region this year, Straw was told by India in New Delhi on Friday that it had ruled out any further concessions to ease tensions with Pakistan until it destroyed the bases of anti-Indian Islamic militants.

Straw's arrival has been marked by a fresh upsurge in violence between the rival nuclear powers.

India's army said on Friday it shot dead five armed Kashmiri nationalists as they tried to sneak into Kashmir. Suspected nationalist fighters massacred 28 Hindu slum dwellers a week ago and dozens of Indian soldiers, nationalist fighters and civilians have died in clashes since.

Days before Straw's last visit in May, Kashmiri fighters killed more than 30 people in a raid on an Indian army camp near Kashmir that edged the nuclear rivals close to war.

Straw will be followed this month by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his latest visit to the subcontinent.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Kashmiri fighters and sending them into Indian-ruled Kashmir.

Islamabad denies the charge and has promised to stop fighters slipping across the border.

India controls almost half of Kashmir, Pakistan a third and China the rest.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inam-ul-Haq (R) greets British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at the Foreign Office in Islamabad July 20, 2002. (Mian Khursheed/Reuter