CORRECTED-US top diplomat urges ratcheting down of India, Pakistan tensions

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that he has spoken with the leaders of India and Pakistan amid tensions between the two countries and has urged them to avoid "any action that would escalate and greatly increase risk."

India and Pakistan have struck each other with retaliatory airstrikes following a suicide car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police officers in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14. Pompeo was speaking to reporters on his plane as he flew from Vietnam to the Philippines. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Makini Brice)