Military

DATE=10/28/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=India Pakistan (L-only)

NUMBER=2-268554

BYLINE=Anjana Pasricha

DATELINE=New Delhi

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///Editors Watch for changing casualty figures and please adjust in the intro///

INTRO: India says at least 10 Pakistani soldiers have been killed and several others injured in a clash, started by Pakistan, along the disputed Kashmir border. Pakistan confirms the fighting but says the battle was started by Indian forces and that only three Pakistani soldiers were wounded. Anjana Pasricha has more from New Delhi.

TEXT: An Indian Defense spokesman says the Pakistani soldiers were killed when Indian troops repulsed an attack on a border post by heavily-armed Pakistani troops early Saturday. The border post lies 180 kilometers northwest of Jammu, the winter capital of Indian Kashmir.

Major General P.P.S. Bindra says Indian troops laid an ambush for the Pakistani troops after they saw them advancing toward the border post. He says Pakistani troops carried away the bodies of the dead soldiers, but left behind many weapons.

A Pakistani government spokesman (Major General Rashid Quereshi) said Saturday that it was Indian troops who attacked Pakistani troops in the area.

Earlier, Pakistani police accused Indian soldiers of firing artillery shells from across the border into Pakistani territory killing five soldiers and wounding several others.

Artillery duels, exchange of gunfire and shelling occur frequently between the Indian and Pakistani armies who confront each other along a 740-kilometer ceasefire line that divides the disputed Kashmir region between the two countries. Independent confirmation of the incidents is difficult.

Tensions have been running high between the two countries since last year when India fought a battle to evict Pakistani-backed Muslim infiltrators from Kashmiri peaks that they had occupied in Indian territory.

India controls two-thirds of Kashmir, Pakistan the rest of the Himalayan region. Both countries claim the entire territory, and have fought two wars over it. (Signed)

NEB/AP/PLM