ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan army soldier was killed and another was seriously injured in “unprovoked” firing by Indian troops from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed region of Kashmir, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The incident took place on Rawlakot’s Nezapir sector near the LoC at about 10:30 am on Saturday.
Soldier Asim Iqbal was killed in the firing and soldier Naik Mohammad Khan was critically wounded.
The Pakistani foreign office strongly condemned the shooting, saying it was "unfortunate that such an incident should have taken place at a time when the two governments are making sincere efforts towards improving relations."
“Pakistan calls upon the Government of India to carry out a thorough investigation into this grave incident and to ensure that such occurrences do not take place,” said the foreign office in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Indian army blamed Pakistani troops for violating the ceasefire.
"Pakistani troops have targeted Indian posts by firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns along the [Line of Control] in Doda Battalion forward area in Poonch district since 7:30 a.m. local time today," the Press Trust of India quoted an unidentified senior Army officer as saying.
Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India along the UN-monitored, Line of Control, but both countries claim the region in full and have fought two of their three wars over it.
India and Pakistan regularly accuse each other of violating a ceasefire along the LoC, which has largely held since 2003.
Tensions spiked between New Delhi and Islamabad early this year when a total of six soldiers were killed in exchanges along the de facto border in Kashmir.
Four of the soldiers killed were from Pakistan while two were from India.
One of the Indians was beheaded allegedly by Pakistanis, a charge rejected by Islamabad.
