India evacuated thousands of people living near the border with Pakistan on Friday, a day after carrying out strikes along the de-facto frontier in disputed Kashmir that have dramatically escalated tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Authorities in parts of northern India said they were evacuating villages within 10 kilometres (six miles) of the border following Thursday's raids, which provoked furious charges of "naked aggression" from Pakistan.

In Jammu and Kashmir state, police said more than 1,500 had moved away from areas where there was a risk of cross-border shelling, as fears of military escalation mounted.

"Most women and children have fled the village and taken shelter here," said one woman at a sports hall in Jammu's Ranbir Singh Pora town.

"Our men are staying back to take care of the cattle, but we are scared," said the woman, who gave her name as Bibi.

Indian sources said Thursday that commandos had carried out "surgical strikes" several kilometres (miles) inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on what they called "terrorist" targets.

The move followed a deadly assault on one of India's army bases in Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants, triggering a public outcry and demands for military action.

Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the disputed border known as the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, but sending ground troops over the line is rare.

Islamabad has dismissed the talk of surgical strikes across the heavily militarised LoC as an "illusion" and said two of its soldiers had been killed in small arms fire.

- 'Always on the edge' -

Images from the northern Indian state of Punjab showed people piling bedding and cooking equipment onto trailers and cramming into crowded buses as security forces stood guard.

Jaswant Kaur said people in his village of Chak Allah Baksh in Punjab had been told to leave their homes.

"Of course it's not a nice feeling to leave your home, crops, cattle and everything else behind," the 55-year-old told AFP.

"Living here means we are always on the edge. We are really distressed."

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, facing international calls for restraint, told a cabinet meeting that Pakistan's commitment to peace "must not be construed as weakness".

The United Nations has said it is watching the situation "with great concern", calling on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, while Washington also called on both countries to improve communications to reduce tensions.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement it had protested India's "frivolous" surgical strikes claim to ambassadors from UN Security Council members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US in Islamabad Friday, calling on them to help ensure peace in the region.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain seven decades ago, two of them over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised hopes of a new era in relations with Islamabad when he paid a surprise Christmas Day visit to Sharif in December.

But relations have unravelled in the nine months since, culminating in the Indian military's strikes this week.

On Tuesday New Delhi said it was pulling out of a key regional summit due to take place in Islamabad in November, citing an increase in cross-border attacks.

Since then four other countries have pulled out of the November summit, forcing the host country Friday to announce it was postponing the event in a humiliating blow.

India's withdrawal came days after Modi warned Pakistan that India would push to make it a pariah state, accusing it of "exporting terrorism in all corners".

Pakistan meanwhile said it had sent envoys to apprise the Chinese government of what it called the "deteriorating situation" in Jammu and Kashmir.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused India of committing human rights abuses in its only Muslim-majority state, which has been roiled by deadly clashes between police and protesters since the death of a popular militant leader in July.

A number of armed separatist groups in the Indian-controlled part of the picturesque Himalayan territory have for decades been fighting to break free from New Delhi.

Five things that led to India's strikes in Pakistan
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 30, 2016 - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised hopes of a new era in relations with Islamabad when he paid a surprise Christmas Day visit to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

In the months since, relations between the nuclear-armed archrivals have unravelled, culminating in the Indian military's strikes this week on militants along the de-facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir that prompted a furious response from Sharif.

Here are five reasons why the strikes occurred.

- Pathankot attack -

Just days after Modi's holiday visit to Sharif, militants from across the Pakistan border launched an audacious attack on an Indian airforce base that left seven soldiers dead.

India blamed the raid at Pathankot in Punjab state on a Pakistan-based militant group that also staged a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

Modi urged Sharif to take action against those responsible, which the Pakistani premier promised to do. But India became frustrated with what it sees as Pakistan's lacklustre response.

"India responded to that attack with measure and reason. Modi invited Pakistan investigators to come over and gather evidence for example, and such a strategy wasn't successful," said Ashok Malik, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a policy organisation in New Delhi.

- Deadly Kashmir protests -

Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in violence in July after a popular militant leader was killed in a gun battle with security forces.

India slapped a curfew on the restive Himalayan region to try to stem the protests, and internet and mobile phone services were snapped.

But residents continued to take to the streets to protest Indian rule, with more than 80 people killed in the ongoing unrest, mostly in clashes with security forces.

Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, but both claim the territory in full and they have fought two of their three wars over its control.

Militant groups, some based in Pakistan, have battled India's security forces for years for independence of the Muslim-majority territory from India or its merger with Pakistan.

Sharif accused India's security forces of carrying out brutalities against unarmed civilians during the protests, further stoking tensions between the neighbours.

- Uri army base -

On September 18, militants staged a predawn raid on an Indian army base near the de-facto border dividing Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers -- the worst such attack in 14 years.

India blamed the attack at Uri on Pakistani-based militants, the same group blamed for the Pathankot attack.

Modi vowed to punish those responsible, while also launching a diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan, including by pulling out of a regional summit, in a major snub to Pakistan.

- Public Pressure -

The Uri attack triggered public fury and demands for military action, including from senior members of Modi's own party.

"Modi was under pressure for quite sometime to respond militaristically after dovetailing with Nawaz Sharif failed," said Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Delhi-based think tank.

Others predicted Modi would respond eventually with military action, given his credentials as a strong Hindu nationalist.

"This government, more so than others, was expected to respond because Modi is seen as a tough leader, he is seen as a leader who is going to punish those who hurt India," Malik said.

But Malik also said Modi was left with no choice because of what the army said was substantial intelligence of militants preparing to attack Indian towns and cities.

- International opinion -

India may have also been counting on the fact that Modi enjoys a closer relationship with Washington than his predecessors, and therefore international reaction to India's strikes might be muted.

"The diplomatic pressure to dissuade India from retaliating is not there," Malik said.

"There is exasperation (in Washington) with Pakistan and that has played to India's advantage," Malik said of US demands for Pakistan to take action against Taliban militants moving across its border into Afghanistan.