Elderly woman killed by 'Indian fire': Pakistan army

By Aamir Latif KARACHI

Pakistan

An elderly woman has been killed in alleged Indian firing at the border of disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday, according to the Pakistani army.

The Indian border force, according to a Pakistan army statement, targeted the village of Kakuta in the Chirikot sector along the Line of Control (LoC) -- dividing the Himalayan valley between the two countries -- killing a 75-year-old woman.

Pakistani troops “befittingly” responded to the cease-fire violation targeting Indian army check posts, the statement added. Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have failed to ease after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Indian-held Kashmir in September last year by militants India claimed had links with Pakistan.

Islamabad denies the charge and accuses New Delhi of trying to divert the world’s attention from its own alleged atrocities in the valley. Nearly 150 people from both sides -- troops and civilians -- have been killed in a series of border clashes between the two forces since September 2016.

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.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir. Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring 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.