Aamir Latif
11 March 2019•Update: 11 March 2019
KARACHI, Pakistan
Two civilians were killed and four others injured in a fresh round of clashes between Pakistani and Indian troops on the disputed Kashmir border on Monday, Pakistani army said.
Indian troops resorted to an unprovoked fire targeting civilians in the Chakothi area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir along the Line of Control (LOC) -- a de facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan valley of Kashmir between the two neighbors --, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), a mouthpiece of Pakistan army, said in a statement.
“Two civilians including a woman embraced Shahadat (martyrdom), while four were injured”, the statement said, adding “Pakistan army troops responded effectively targeting Indian post which initiated fire”.
Tensions between the two neighbors escalated following a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir in mid-February that left at least 40 Indian troops dead.
The escalations were further fueled between the two countries when warplanes from both sides engaged in a dogfight along the border of disputed Kashmir on Feb. 27. India and Pakistan claimed to have downed each other's planes and an Indian pilot was captured.
The two South Asian nations have fought three wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir -- since they were partitioned in 1947.
Widely quoted estimates for the number of people killed in the conflict since 1989 go as high as 70,000, but other calculations based on Indian government data are far smaller, at about 41,000. India maintains a large military presence in the disputed region.
