Pakistan, India exchange fresh fire in Kashmir as tensions continue to rise
Pakistan and India exchanged fresh fire across the de-facto Kashmir border on Saturday, the Pakistani military said, with Indian officials stating there was no damage as tensions rise between the nuclear-armed rivals.
There was small arms fire and mortar shells fire from across the border in Akhnoor sector which lasted for around two hours
“Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing” which started at 4am and continued for four hours in Bhimber sector on the Pakistani side of the border, a military statement said. It did not mention casualties.
“There was small arms fire and mortar shells fire from across the border in Akhnoor sector which lasted for around two hours [4am to 6am],” Pawan Kotwal, a top civilian official in Jammu and Kashmir state on the Indian side, said. “No damage was caused. We are ready for any eventuality but it is peaceful in Jammu region.”
The skirmish came two days after India claimed it had carried out “surgical strikes” across the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border in the disputed territory, on what it called “terrorist” targets several kilometres inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
The rare public admission of such action sparked furious rhetoric from Pakistan and calls for restraint from the US and the UN.