04 October 2017•Update: 04 October 2017
By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Indian troops on Wednesday killed at least two children in a cross-border fire in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan army said.
According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), a media-wing of Pakistan army, Indian border forces targeted civilian populations with small and heavy weapons in Rawalakot and Chirikot sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) -- a de-facto border that divides Himalayan region of Kashmir.
“Mortar rounds hit of a civilian Sakhi Kayani in village Chaffar. Resultantly his two children have embraced Shahadat [martyrdom],” the ISPR said in a statement.
It further stated that Pakistan army responded to Indian firing and reportedly killed three Indian soldiers and wounded five others.
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.
The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.
Also in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984.
Despite a cease-fire agreement signed in 2003, the two countries frequently blame each other for firing on the Working Boundary and the LoC.
Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu 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.
