SRINAGAR, India: Indian and Pakistani soldiers on Tuesday traded heavy gunfire across a cease-fire line dividing Kashmir between the hostile neighbors, leaving one Indian soldier and one Pakistani civilian dead and several others wounded, officials said.
An Indian army statement said the Indian fatality occurred in Sunderbani sector.
Police said a second cross-firing incident between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in northern Kashmir triggered panic among the villagers.
In Pakistan, the military accused Indian troops of resorting to unprovoked firing of mortars and artillery guns and deliberately targeting the civil population in Kashmir.
It said in a statement that one civilian was killed and nine others, including women and children, were wounded. All of the injured have been evacuated to hospitals.
The statement also said the Pakistani army has reports of three Indian soldiers killed and several others wounded.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it summoned a top Indian diplomat and lodged a protest over cease-fire violations by Indian forces.
Both sides frequently exchange gunfire in the region and accuse each other of violating a 2003-cease-fire accord.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over control of Kashmir, since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan. Pakistan denies the charge and says it offers only diplomatic and moral support to the rebels.