India accuses Pakistani troops of new deadly Kashmir attacks
Indian authorities have accused Pakistani troops of initiating a fire fight along the restive border in Kashmir, saying a soldier and two civilians have been killed on the New Delhi-administered side of the disputed region.
Indian police officials further claimed on Saturday that Pakistani troops were using mortar shells and automatic gunfire to target Indian villages and border posts for the fourth consecutive day in the Jammu region.
Pakistan did not immediately react to the Indian version of events on Saturday, though both nations have blamed each other for initiating border battles in the past leading to civilian and military casualties.
However, Pakistani officials blamed Indian soldiers on Friday for initiating cross-border gun battles.
The two civilians killed in the Saturday incident were identified as a teenage boy, with Indian police saying that the casualties were inflicted when mortar shells struck their homes.
At least 10 civilians and a paramilitary trooper were also wounded in the alleged attack.
Indian army spokesman Col. Nitin Joshi further asserted that the army soldier was killed in the Poonch sector along the de facto frontier, where Indian and Pakistani troops were exchanging gunfire and mortar shells.
The latest skirmish took place after Islamabad accused Indian forces of killing four Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in Kashmir on Monday, where militia groups opposed to India’s rule in the disputed region demand that Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
The fighting expanded late Friday to the frontier that includes a 740-kilometer rugged and mountainous stretch called the Line of Control, which is guarded by the armies of India and Pakistan.
The neighboring states also summoned each other’s senior diplomats in their capitals on Friday to express their anger and protest over what both call unprovoked cease-fire violations. They also issued statements censuring the violence.
SS
