Two people were killed by Indian shelling overnight in the Pakistani zone of the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir, pushing the toll in the past week to 26, police said on Friday.
The deaths occurred in Forward Kahuta sector in the southern district of Bagh, said police officer Raja Ghulam Sarwar.
”The fire was heavy and continued past midnight,” he said. Sarwar said a woman died in Sedian village while a man was killed in Neza Pir village.
Some houses were also damaged in the shelling. Pakistani troops retaliated, he said.
There was also shelling in Hajira and Abbaspur sectors in the neighbouring district of Poonch, but no casualties were reported, Sarwar said.
However, the Line of Control (LoC) — the de facto border dividing Kashmir between nuclear-capable rivals India and Pakistan — was quiet in the southernmost district last night.
”There has been calm along the LoC since last evening,” an administration official in Bhimbher said.
The artillery duels began last Friday after New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants for an attack in Jammu, the winter capital of the Indian zone of Kashmir, that killed 35 people. Pakistan has denied the charge, but tensions have soared between the neighbours, who already have around a million troops on their common border.
Kashmir, claimed by both countries, has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. ? Sapa-AFP