The Indian military says Pakistan opened fire through LoC without provocation, killing two Indian soldiers, while another died overnight.
Three Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani shelling across the disputed border in Indian-administered Kashmir, the Indian military said.
Indian army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said that Pakistan opened fire without provocation in Nowgam sector early Thursday morning, killing two Indian soldiers and wounding four.
Another Indian soldier was killed in a night shot by Pakistani troops in the Poonch sector, he said.
“Our troops responded vigorously to enemy fire,” Kalia said.
Pakistan accused Indian forces of violating a ceasefire in the region and wounding a civilian.
Shelling frequently erupts along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that divides the Kashmir region that both nuclear-armed countries claim in full but rule in part.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it had summoned a senior Indian diplomat to Islamabad to protest ceasefire violations committed by Indian forces throughout the LoC a day earlier, in which a 65-year-old civilian in the Jandrot sector was injured.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri accused New Delhi of increasing tension across the LoC “to divert global attention from its human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. India”.
The statement said India had committed 2,404 ceasefire violations this year, resulting in 19 deaths and 192 civilians injured.
India says Pakistani troops often open fire to help armed fighters sneak through the LoC to join a decades-long armed revolt.
Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people who are fighting for self-determination.
Tensions continue
Tensions between the two countries exploded in February 2019 when a suicide bombing killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India retaliated with air strikes within Pakistani territory.
Pakistan shot down one of the planes in Kashmir and captured a pilot who was later released.
India said the attacks targeted Pakistan-based fighters responsible for the suicide bombing.
Relations have been further strained since August last year, when India revoked the semi-autonomous status of the Muslim-majority region and divided the region into two federally governed territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, sparking anger on both sides. from the border. .
The violence comes amid rising tensions between India and China along their disputed border in the Ladakh region, where the two Asian giants are locked in a bitter confrontation for months.
In recent months, the two countries have amassed tens of thousands of additional troops in the already militarized region. In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash on a high hill between soldiers using sticks, stones and fists.
