Saturday, March 21, 2009

Pakistan fires at Indian army positions: India

SRINAGAR, India— An Indian soldier was injured Saturday when Pakistani troops fired at Indian army positions across the de facto border dividing Kashmir between the rivals, the Indian army said.
The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border.
Pakistani troops fired 1,500-2,000 machine gun rounds towards Indian forward posts in the Western Uri sector, an army spokesman said.
The firing lasted five hours, ending early Saturday morning, the spokesman said, adding that Pakistani fire was "unprovoked".
India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants.
Last year India accused Pakistani soldiers of crossing the ceasefire line known as the Line of Control and killing an Indian soldier -- allegations Islamabad denied.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, held in part by each country but claimed in full by both.
They agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003 and launched a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes and both countries have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
An insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir has been underway since 1989 and left more than 47,000 people dead by official count. Islamabad denies helping the Muslim rebels.
The firing comes at a time of heightened bilateral tensions, sparked by last November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
New Delhi has also accused "official agencies" of Pakistan -- a reference to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency and other bodies -- of involvement.
Both LeT and Pakistan have denied any role in the attacks which killed 165 people while Islamabad has blamed the assault on "non-state actors".

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