US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has talked to India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval amidst tense ties between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack and New Delhi's air strike against JeM terror training camp in Balakot.
Pompeo and Doval are understood to have discussed the current situation in the region during the telephonic conversation on Wednesday, the Secretary of State's office confirmed.
The US National Security Adviser John Bolton previously talked to Doval on February 15 during which they resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under the UN resolutions and remove all obstacles to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
Bolton had supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.
Tensions have escalated between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based JeM.
India carried out air strikes against the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In the operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for suicide attacks were eliminated. The facility at Balakot was headed by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of the JeM chief.
Pakistan on Wednesday claimed it shot down two Indian fighter jets over Pakistani air space and arrested a pilot.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on February 14 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
PTI
