Fresh Indian fire kills three more civilians in Kashmir: Pakistan

Iran Press TV

Tue Nov 8, 2016 3:18PM

Pakistani officials say Indian troops have opened fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing at least three civilians.

Pakistani police official Mir Abid said three civilians were killed and three wounded by Indian shelling in Battal sector of Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday.

"A mortar shell landed on the house of one Zakir Hussain Shah in Mandhol village, killing his 45-year-old wife and 6-year-old daughter on the spot," media outlets quoted Abid as saying.

The official added that another man was killed near a bridge in the same area.

On Monday, the Pakistan-administered area of Nakyal witnessed a similar incident.

According to a statement by the government in Islamabad, Pakistan's Foreign Office has summoned India's deputy high commissioner to protest the recent deadly incidents.

Meanwhile, New Delhi said an Indian soldier was killed and two others were injured in the Jammu sector of Indian-controlled Kashmir during the latest exchanges of fire with Pakistani troops.

Last week, authorities on both sides closed hundreds of schools along frontier areas when cross-border firing killed 14 residents.

Indian and Pakistani forces have been engaged in similar clashes and traded fire across their de facto border in the disputed region over the past months. Each side accuses the other of provocation.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained in recent months, with New Delhi blaming Islamabad for a raid on an army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir in September, which killed 19 soldiers.

The Indian army blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault. Islamabad denies any role in the deadly incident.

Diplomatic tensions generated between the two sides in late October, when India ordered one employee of the Pakistani High Commission out of the country, saying he was a suspected spy. Islamabad expelled an Indian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move.