Tensions flare in Kashmir

New Delhi: Tensions were high along a de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region yesterday after Pakistan said Indian troops killed three soldiers with unprovoked gunfire – an act described by Indian Army sources as retaliation for weekend violence.

Pakistan’s Army said on Monday that India launched an “unprovoked ceasefire violation” at the border, also known as the Line of Control (LoC), at Rakhchikri in the Rawlakot sector, killing three soldiers and injuring one.

Indian Army sources confirmed a team of Indian soldiers had crossed the border in a surprise raid on a Pakistani post on Monday and killed at least three soldiers.

The raid was described as a retaliatory attack for “unprovoked and indiscriminate shelling” across the LoC on Saturday that led to the death of four Indian soldiers.

The LoC divides the disputed Kashmir region into two parts: one administered by India and the other by Pakistan. India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other’s forces of violating a 2003 ceasefire accord. The cross-border firing often leads to the deaths of soldiers and civilians on either side.

The nuclear-capable South Asian neighbours have fought three wars, including two over Kashmir, which both countries claim in its entirety.

Meanwhile, a suspected US drone attack along the Pakistani-Afghan border killed an Islamist militant commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network, a Pakistani official and two members of the Haqqani group said.

The Pakistani official said it was not immediately clear whether the missile struck on the Afghan or Pakistani side of the border. The members of the network and an eyewitness reached by Reuters said the incident took place inside Pakistan.

There have been multiple suspected US drone strikes in the mountainous border region.