India’s cross-border fire kills 3 civilians: Pakistan

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan accused India of killing three of its citizens and wounding three others in cross-border firing on Tuesday, the latest casualties in continuing skirmishes in the disputed Kashmir region. Tensions in the Himalayan region have surged in recent months, with India blaming Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base in its part of Kashmir in September that killed 19 soldiers. India said it responded by carrying out strikes across the heavily-militarized border, although Islamabad denies these took place. But there have been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries. The latest incident occurred near the border dividing Indian-held Kashmir from the Pakistani sector of the territory, and takes the number of civilians killed across the region since Oct.21 to 20. “A mother and her daughter were killed after a shell fired by Indian troops hit their house in Mandhole village in Battal sector,” local government official Chaudhry Altaf said. Two others were wounded and heavy shelling by Indian troops was continuing on the civilian population, Altaf said. The ages of the victims were not immediately clear. Separately a man was killed and a woman was wounded in shelling in the same area, he added. Another local official, Sardar Najeeb, confirmed the casualties. On Monday three people including a policeman were killed in Nakyal sector in heavy shelling by Indian troops, Pakistani officials said. The officials say Indian troops are now routinely shelling several villages on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayan state. India says Pakistani forces are doing likewise in the other direction. — AFP