Dhaka, April 30 -- Pakistan's information minister said Wednesday that Islamabad had "credible intelligence" that India was planning an imminent military strike and he vowed a "decisive response", as worries of spiralling conflict grew over a deadly attack in Kashmir.

The statement by Attaullah Tarar came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a closed-door meeting the previous day with army and security chiefs, at which he gave the military "complete operational freedom" to respond to the attack, a senior government source told AFP.

"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext," Tarar said in a statement.

Pahalga...