ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan military on Thursday took a group of foreign diplomats, including the Saudi ambassador, on a visit to the Line of Control (LOC), the de facto border that splits the Himalayan region of Kashmir and across which the Indian and Pakistani militaries have faced off for decades, local media reported. 

The visit comes at a time of heightened diplomatic tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

“The delegation visiting the LoC includes ambassadors from Britain, Poland, Uzbekistan and Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey,” Pakistani channel Geo News said on its website. 

Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday two of its soldiers were killed by Indian fire in an “unprovoked cease-fire violation” in Kashmir, saying troops responded by targeting the Indian posts where the fire originated, causing “substantial damage” on the Indian side.

The Indian military said Pakistan initiated the clashes, saying Pakistani troops fired bullets and mortar shells along the Line of Control in the southern Poonch district early Wednesday. India did not report any casualties.

India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other of unprovoked attacks along the tense Kashmir frontier in violation of a 2003 cease-fire agreement. Pakistan says India has violated the truce more than 2,000 times this year alone.

The region is split between the two countries, which each claim it in full but rule it in part.