Pakistani woman killed in Kashmir cross-border fire

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA

A woman was killed in the Pakistani side of the divided Kashmir region in alleged Indian cross-border fire Wednesday night, a Pakistani official said.

The victim was identified as 35-year-old Sajida Bibi. She died due to injuries from a mortar shell fired by Indian forces along the Line of Control, the de-facto border between the Pakistani and Indian parts of the disputed region.

"A mortar shell landed in the courtyard of a house in Bugna village on the outskirts of the district headquarters,” the official in the Pakistan-administred Kashmir told Dawn newspaper, saying Indian forces "indiscriminately" shelled the area.

An Indian army official told a Kashmir-based newspaper Wednesday that Pakistani forces started "unprovoked" firing by small arms and heavy caliber weapons in Gulpur Poonch on the Indian side of the border.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.