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NEW DELHI, Friday (Reuters) India on Friday denied it had launched an air strike against a military post in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan's military said in a statement India had sent in air support after its troops suffered heavy casualties in an attack on the post in the north of the disputed Himalayan region on Thursday night.

The last confirmed use of air strikes was during the 1999 confrontation in Kashmir's Kargil region that almost plunged the nuclear neighbours into their fourth war.

Air strikes would be a major escalation in the military stand-off between the South Asian powers that brought them close to war again in June.

Pakistan's allegation also comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richward Armitage is in New Delhi on his latest peace mission to ease tensions on the subcontinent.

India and Pakistan have massed a million men along their border, stoking fears of war, since a December attack on the Indian parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based guerrillas.

India's air force and army denied Pakistan's allegation, although an army spokesman said there had been a routine exchange of artillery fire.

"It's normal firing which has become an almost routine feature in certain areas on the Line of Control (ceasefire line). No air power was used," he told Reuters, adding there had also been no ground attack against the Pakistani post.

An Indian air force official said no air attack had been launched: "Absolutely baseless. There is no basis for these reports."

Pakistan said it had inflicted heavy casualties on Indian troops.

"Unable to make any headway, despite losing dozens of personnel, the Indians in their frustration resorted to a highly escalatory act by bombing the area using the Indian air force," the statement issued in Islamabad said.

No independent confirmation of either Pakistan or Indian comments was immediately available.

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