A Pakistani prisoner who was savagely beaten in an Indian jail in an apparent tit-for-tat assault died on Thursday, prompting Islamabad to demand an international probe into the "heinous" crime. Doctors treating Sanaullah Ranjay at a government hospital in Chandigarh said the 52-year-old died of multiple organ failure after suffering severe head injuries in last week's attack at a prison in the northern city of Jammu.

NEW DELHI - Indians were outraged at the Pakistan government Thursday after a convicted Indian spy died from a head injury suffered when two inmates attacked him with a brick in a Pakistani prison last week.

Pakistan on Sunday denied consular access to an Indian national on death row who is fighting for his life after being attacked by fellow inmates, Indian government officials told AFP in New Delhi. Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges by a Pakistani court, was rushed to hospital Friday with multiple wounds, including a severe head injury, after an argument in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

India's national hockey team announced Friday that it was calling off a series against arch-rivals Pakistan planned for next month amid growing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Narinder Batra, the secretary-general of Hockey India, said that the decision had been made at the instigation of the government less than three weeks before the start of a five-match home series. Pakistan had also been due to host a return series straight afterwards. "The foreign ministry did not give permission (for the series)," Batra told AFP.