Pakistan accuses India of firing along Kashmir border

2 civilians, including 60-year-old woman and 13-year-old boy, killed in firing near disputed Kashmir border, says Pakistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan on Sunday accused the Indian army of "unprovoked" gunfire along the Kashmir border killing two people, including a woman and a teenager, while the Indian side made similar charges.

"Indian unprovoked firing in Nikial and Rakhchikri Sectors along LOC [Line of Control de facto border] targeting civilian population," said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani Army’s media wing, in a statement.

The gunfire killed a 60-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy, and injured three other people, including two women, the statement added.

The injured were evacuated to a nearby hospital for medical relief, and Pakistani troops returned fire, said the statement.

Meanwhile the Indian Defense Ministry also accused Pakistan of cease-fire violations into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, injuring a boy.

"Six persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured as Pakistan violated the cease-fire for the second consecutive day by targeting forward posts and villages with mortar shelling and small-arms firing in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district," a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Already high tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India flared up further last month after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped.

Jammu and Kashmir has been facing a clampdown since Aug. 5, when the Indian government revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which conferred it a special status.

Hundreds of people, mostly political leaders, have been detained or arrested by authorities since the Indian government made the move.

India has said that 93% of the restrictions have been eased in the conflict-ridden region, a claim that Anadolu Agency could not independently verify.

India and Pakistan hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.

* Shuriah Niazi contributed to this story from New Delhi

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