The risk of exposing a military still being modernized may constrain Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he weighs retaliation for a terrorist attack.

Armed police and soldiers searched homes and forests for militants in Indian Kashmir on Friday and India's army chief reviewed security there after the killing of 26 men at a tourist site - the worst attack on civilians in nearly two decades.

Relations between India and Pakistan are cratering following a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that has sparked tit-for-tat reprisals and raised fears of another military escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.