Four militants of unknown allegiances and intentions savagely attacked an Indian army base in Uri within the long-disputed region of Kashmir, a flashpoint tension zone between India and Pakistan. Seventeen Indian soldiers were allegedly killed.

Social media exploded in animadversion and outrage. Demonstrations were bestrewn along the Indian border states, decrying the assault. Indian Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh immediately arraigned Pakistan for the attack and blatantly labeled it as a “terrorist state,” adducing the country’s long history of supporting rouge militaristic groups. Pakistan, accordingly, denied any association.

However, Indian military intelligence has already found strong evidence that the militants hailed from a Pakistani Islamic group.

Both countries claim the entire Kashmir region but each only control parts of it. Within the last two months, eighty have died in violence, mostly anti-government protestors in India.

A curfew has been instituted throughout the entirety of Kashmir, and security forces are likely to continue to pour into the state.

The militants infiltrated the Indian base from the Pakistani side of the border, near Srinagar; whereupon, there was gunfire and explosions for several hours.

The event will no doubt exacerbate the already historically frigid relationship between Pakistan and India. The Indian government had pledged to find a solution with local leaders, but gestures of peace have been rejected by separatist movements that continue to demand that the region become independent.