India-Pakistan border firing kills 10 civilians
Cross-border firing between India and Pakistan has killed at least 10 civilians from both sides as tensions rise between the two countries days after they called off high-level security talks over the dispute on Kashmir.
Pakistani officials said six people died in villages near the city of Sialkot in Punjab Province. They said about 40 people were also wounded in the firing and shelling by Indian forces, which began at about 3:00 a.m. local time on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday).
“Six civilians embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and 46 were severely injured including 22 females due to Indian unprovoked firing/shelling on working boundary near Sialkot in Chaprar and Harpal sector,” a statement from the Pakistani military said, adding that the Pakistani forces had befittingly returned fire.
However, Indian officials said it was the Pakistani side that began the “unprovoked” firing of mortars and shells, saying four people were killed and close to 20 injured in rural areas in the Indian-administered Kashmir.
"Four villagers died in the shelling from across the border, three of them were killed early morning and one died of injuries in a hospital later," Pawan Kotwal, the top administrator of the region, told AFP.
Tensions have been high between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a meeting between their national security advisors was cancelled on Sunday. India said the meeting should solely include discussions about terrorism, but Pakistan wanted the issue of Kashmir also included.
The meeting had been agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when they met in Russia last month.
The deadly border fire came two days after Indian forces said they arrested a suspected Pakistani militant in Kashmir and killed three others in clashes in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan region. Another Pakistani national had been detained weeks ago in the same area, further escalating the situation between Islamabad and New Delhi.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars - since the 1947 independence - on Kashmir. Indians on Friday marked the anniversary of a battle in 1965, which ended in a ceasefire and led to Pakistan returning to the frontlines that predated the conflict. Clashes are still continuing in Kashmir with more than a dozen militant groups seeking independence from India or a merger with Pakistan.
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