HELD SRINAGAR: India said on Monday that Pakistani troops crossed into held Kashmir and opened fire. Indian troops returned fire, and at least four soldiers were killed.
Indian army spokesman Brig Gopala Krishnan Murali called the attack a “brazen violation of ceasefire”. One Indian soldier died and “three or four” Pakistani soldiers were killed in “retaliatory fire” in the Kupwara area of the region, Murali said.
Murali said that the body of one Pakistani soldier was still lying on the Indian side of the frontier and intermittent firing between troops continued.
“Between 10 and 12 Pakistani soldiers crossed the Line of Control and entered the Kupwara sector (in Indian Kashmir), and after a verbal duel they shot dead a soldier,” Indian army spokesman Anil Kumar Mathur said. He said the killing triggered an exchange of small arms fire, which was continuing into the evening.
According to the spokesman, the soldiers crossed 200 metres (650 feet) into Indian territory to “object to the setting up of a post by Indian army soldiers”. The infiltration took place at 3:00 pm (0930 GMT) in a mountainous area north of Srinagar, an Indian army statement said.
“After that our troops also retaliated and the Pakistani troops ran back. We don’t know yet whether Pakistani troops suffered any casualties. The exchange of fire is continuing in the area,” the army statement added.
In Islamabad, the ISPR director-general said he had no information on the clash. “I don’t have any information about this incident right now,” Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said. The shooting in the Leepa sector lasted for several hours. Both sides blamed each other for starting it. A Pakistani military official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that the Indians started firing without provocation and that his side only retaliated.
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