Girl reported killed in Kashmir shelling

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Indian troops backed by artillery and long-range guns fired on villages along the border in the Pakistani-administered side of the Kashmir region, killing a 13-year-old-girl and wounding her mother and brother, local officials and Pakistan’s military said Sunday.

The military blamed the Indian army for initiating Saturday night’s “unprovoked ceasefire violation” in the villages of Hajipir and Bedori. It said Pakistani troops “effectively responded” to the Indian fire, without elaborating.

Mortars fired by Indian troops also damaged several homes, according to local media reports and government officials. In neighboring India, the local police blamed Pakistani troops for initiating the fire, saying Pakistani mortar shelling wounded five Indian civilians on their side of Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries and claimed by both in its entirety.

Pakistan and India often trade fire in the disputed Himalayan region, blaming each other for initiating the fire. The latest incident comes days after Indian fire killed four villagers in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Tensions have soared between Pakistan and India since August, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government revoked Muslim-majority Kashmir’s decades-old semi-autonomous status, touching off anger in Indian-controlled Kashmir and in Pakistan.