SRINAGAR: Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire on Wednesday near the border that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, leaving one dead on the Indian side and two wounded on the Pakistani side, officials said.
One side blamed the other for initiating the shooting.
Pakistani Rangers opened fire on an 11-member Indian patrol team in the Samba sector, 350 km from the region’s main city of Srinagar, and the Indian guards retaliated, said Border Security Force (BSF) Inspector General D. Parikh.
“One soldier was killed and another critically wounded in the firing from across the border,” Parikh told AFP. The gun battle was still going on, he said.
Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought two wars over control of the Himalayan region since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistan blamed India for the most recent incident. The Pakistan Rangers Punjab, who patrol the eastern border with India and the disputed boundaries, said in a statement that a commander from the Indian side had requested a meeting and when two representatives from the Rangers contacted them, the Indians opened fire. Two Rangers were seriously wounded, the statement said.
India’s army said there have been more than 550 violations of a cease-fire by Pakistan troops this year, the most since the two nations signed the accord in 2003.
While minor skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani troops have been common over the years, the worst violation of the cease-fire accord took place in October over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and left nine civilians dead in Pakistan and nine in India.
India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, often accuse each other of violating a 2003 cease-fire agreement.
Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides fled their homes when the October violence erupted along the 200-km border between Pakistan’s Punjab province and the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
A total of 20 civilians from both sides, including women, were killed.
Earlier in December a group of six heavily armed militants stormed an Indian Army base in Uri near the disputed border known as the Line of Control, and killed 11 soldiers and police.
India, Pakistan trade cross-border fire; one dead
