New Delhi, August 6: India summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner in Delhi today after five of its soldiers were killed by Pakistani soldiers and terrorists who crossed the Line of Control in the Poonch area of Jammu and Kashmir. A sixth Indian soldier who managed to escape is being treated at a military hospital. His testimony will be crucial in determining how the others died. 

The Indians were attacked at 2 am about 200 km south of Srinagar. The Pakistani army has denied any role in the attack.

"The ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms," said Defence Minister AK Antony in Parliament.Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged the government to "take appropriate measures" and said: "The Indian nation cannot be cowed down by such blatant acts of deceit." 

BJP leaders said the government must rethink plans to resume dialogue with Pakistan. In January, relations between the countries crashed after two Indian soldiers were killed on Indian territory in Kashmir; one of them was found beheaded.

Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said recently that India would be "picking up the threads" of peace talks with the new Pakistani government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In September, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan were expected to meet on the sideline of a UN conference in New York. 

That remark lets Pakistan off the hook, said the main opposition party, the BJP. "When the minister says something so ambiguous like 'people dressed in army uniforms' it gives Pakistan a route of escape," said the party's Arun Jaitley. Narendra Modi, expected to be the party's Prime Ministerial nominee, tweeted: "Dastardly ambush by Pakistan...leading to the death of 5 Indian soldiers is unacceptable."