India to retaliate over soldier's 'barbaric' beheading

India’s Prime Minister has declared that there can be no “business as usual” with Pakistan after clashes along the border in Kashmir last week left four soldiers dead. One Indian soldier was beheaded and the body of another was mutilated.

In strikingly firm words, Manmohan Singh told reporters in Delhi that the way the corpses were treated was a “barbaric act”. “Those responsible for this crime will have to be brought to book,” he said, at a ceremony honouring India’s armed forces.

The two armies have lost two soldiers each along the so-called Line of Control this month. But India has been outraged at the beheading of a soldier, during what it said was an attack inside Indian territory by a Pakistan raiding party.

The Chief of Staff of the Indian army, General Bikram Singh, said earlier that India reserved the right to retaliate at a time and place of its choosing.