SRINAGAR/MUZAFFARABAD: India and Pakistan on Tuesday tallied at least 19 deaths in recent firing across their Line of Control in held Kashmir, where the two neighbours are ratcheting up shelling and small-arms fire.
Eight people were killed and 22 injured when Pakistan troops reportedly shelled border hamlets and posts with mortar bombs along the International Border (IB) and the LoC in Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
The officials said five civilians were killed in Ramgarh of the frontier district of Samba on the International Border and two others lost their lives in Rajouri on the Line of Control — the de facto border that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
A police spokesperson said the dead in the Ramgarh sector included a girl, 16, and two other women. A total of 15 more civilians were injured in the shelling from across the border.
"All the injured civilians have been shifted to hospital," the spokesperson said. At least two dozen head of cattle have also perished.
The police official said Pakistan Rangers indiscriminately targeted civilian areas and defence facilities in Ramgarh since morning. "The BSF is retaliating effectively and heavy shelling and firing exchanges are going on."
Pakistan officials said at least four people were killed and five injured in its part of Kashmir on Monday, as the archrivals exchanged heavy fire concentrated in Pakistan's Nakyal sector along the Line of Control.
"It appears as if a full blown war is going on between India and Pakistan," said Mohammad Saeed, a resident of the village of Mohra in the region.
"Please have mercy and stop it," he said, speaking to an international wire by telephone amid the sound of gunshots.
Six people were killed and 10 injured in Nakyal and the adjacent Tatta Pani sector last Friday and Saturday, Pakistan has said.
Each accuses the other of repeatedly violating a 2003 ceasefire. On the diplomatic front, already chilly relations have gone into the deep freeze following recent tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats. Both sides dispute each other's version of events, against the backdrop of heightened tension in Kashmir after security forces killed a separatist field commander in July.
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