A day after the U.N. appealed for restraint following Tuesday's deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, India reported an exchange of fire across the de facto border in the disputed region.

Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire for a second straight day on Saturday as ties plummeted between the two nuclear-armed neighbours after an attack on tourists blamed on Pakistani militants killed 26 in India's Kashmir region.

India and Pakistan have intensified their hostilities over the hotly contested Kashmir region following a massacre of 26 mostly Indian tourists, which New Delhi linked to Pakistan. Pakistan denies it was behind Tuesday's attack by gunmen on a group of tourists in Kashmir.