Woman killed in shelling at disputed Kashmir border

By Aamir Latif and Ahmed Adil

KARACHI, Pakistan/ NEW DELHI, India (AA) - A Pakistani woman was killed in Indian shelling along the disputed Kashmir border, Pakistan's army claimed on Tuesday.

The army said that the "unprovoked ceasefire violation" in Hotspring and Jandrot sectors "deliberately" targeted civil population with "mortars and heavy weapons."

As a result, it added, a 50-year-old woman was killed, and three other citizens including a minor got injured, who were taken to a nearby hospital.

India, on the contrary, blamed Pakistan for violating the cease-fire.

"Pakistan army initiated unprovoked small arms firing and shelling with mortars along (the) LoC in Mankote sector, district Poonch. Indian Army retaliates befittingly," a defense spokesperson said in a statement.

LoC, or the Line of Control is a de facto border that splits Jammu and Kashmir between the two nuclear neighbors. Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts but claimed by both in full since partition in 1947.

Already fraught relations between the two South Asian neighbors further flared up after India scrapped Kashmir's special status last year.

Last week, Islamabad accused New Delhi of attacking UN observers in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and urged the international body to initiate a transparent investigation into the incident.