India accuses Pakistan of killing 3 soldiers in disputed Kashmir
Three Indian soldiers have been killed by what the country’s army described as unprovoked gunfire by Pakistani troops in the disputed border region of Kashmir.
Indian army spokesman Rajesh Kalia alleged on Thursday that Pakistan had opened fire without provocation in the Nowgam sector earlier in the day, killing two Indian troops and injuring four more.
Another Indian soldier was killed in overnight gunfire by Pakistani forces in the Poonch sector of the region, he said. "Our troops responded strongly to the enemy fire."
Pakistan's Foreign Office said it had summoned a senior Indian diplomat in Islamabad to protest what it termed as ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) a day earlier, in which it said a 65-year-old civilian in the Jandrot sector had been wounded.
According to the official statement, Indian forces had committed 2,404 ceasefire violations this year, leading to the killing of 19 people and wounding of 192 civilians.
Indian army officials in the New Delhi-controlled Kashmir acknowledged last month for the first time ever the breach of standard operating procedure by its forces during alleged encounters in the disputed Himalayan region.
The Indian army claimed back in July that it had killed three people in an armed encounter in Kashmir, alleging that they were foreign militants.
The killings during a stop and search operation triggered an outcry, amid accusations that the encounter was fabricated to justify the killings. A probe into the so-called anti-militancy operation then confirmed that the three youths were locals from the Rajouri district of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Exchange of gunfire erupts frequently along the LoC, the ceasefire line in Kashmir, which both of the nuclear-armed rival nations claim in full.
India further alleges that Pakistani troops often open fire to help militants slip into the Indian side of Kashmir in efforts to join a decades-long revolt in the Muslim-majority region.
Pakistan, however, insists that it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people struggling for self-determination and independence.
India is also engaged in a serious military confrontation with China along the border that those two countries dispute.
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