News / Pakistan / India

2 Pakistanis killed, 7 injured in Indian cross-border shelling of Kashmir

Thursday, 01 June 2017 2:08 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 03 June 2017 11:48 AM ]

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard during a curfew in downtown Srinagar, Kashmir, on May 30, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Pakistan says two of its civilians have been killed in cross-border fire from the Indian side of the disputed Kashmir territory.

Senior government official Raja Tahir Mumtaz said seven other people, including four women, were injured in the mortar fire that targeted houses of people in Poonch sector, located along the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

“These civilians were sleeping in their houses, one of the dead was a 65-year old,” Mumtaz said.

Local officials said several houses were also damaged due to the mortar fire.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry also confirmed that casualties had happened in the attack, with Nafees Zakariya, a ministry spokesman, saying India was carrying out unprovoked violations of ceasefire. India has yet to officially comment on the shelling.

Pakistani soldiers monitor the area in Tatta Pani sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during a media trip organized by the Pakistani army on October 1, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

India carried out a similar attack in the area last week, apparently to retaliate for the murder of Indian soldiers at the border. Islamabad had rejected India’s claim that militants used military bunkers along the border to prepare attacks on the Indian-controlled territory.

Tensions boiled over between India and Pakistan last September when cross-border raids intensified for several days. Since then, the two sides have reported outbreaks of firing across the LoC, with scores of civilians and security forces killed on both sides of the border.

The clashes last year came after renewed unrest in Kashmir over the death of a top militant commander.

Most of the people in the Muslim-dominated territory have for long sought independence from India or a merge with Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of providing weapons and funds to the independence-seeking movement. Pakistan denies any involvement.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since the Himalayan region was divided at the end of the British colonial rule in 1947. Around 70,000 people have been killed in Kashmir violence since 1989.

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