By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan on Tuesday accused India of killing at least two women and injuring six other people in unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) — a de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir valley between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), a media wing of the Pakistani army, unprovoked Indian border forces fired with artillery, heavy mortars and automatic weapons in the Leepa valley near the LoC and targeted the civilian population in different villages.

Pakistani troops engaged Indian troops and destroyed four Indian posts, the ISPR claimed in a statement.
The fresh ceasefire violation took place when U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Islamabad. He later left for India in the evening.

Despite a cease-fire agreement signed in 2003, the two countries frequently blame each other for firing at the Working Boundary and the Line of Control. 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.

Kashmiri resistance groups in the region have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighbouring Pakistan. More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.

[Kashmir map: US Library of Congress’s Geography & Map Division for  Public Domain]