Four killed in fresh India-Pakistan border clashes

An Indian villager looks out from the hole left in his shop roof, allegedly damaged in shelling from the Pakistani side of the disputed Kashmir, in Bainglar village in the Samba sector, on January 3, Show more

SRINAGAR // Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire along their tense border on Saturday, killing four people including a teenage girl and forcing hundreds to flee their homes in the latest round of deadly clashes.

The violence came a day after New Delhi said a Pakistani fishing crew suspected of involvement in “illicit” activities blew up their boat while trying to evade capture by the Indian navy.

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated on Wednesday when an Indian border guard and two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed during another exchange of fire.

The shelling intensified on Saturday, forcing the “evacuation of hundreds of people” living in the border areas of Samba and Hiranagar, said Rajesh Kumar, a senior police official in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

An Indian woman was killed and 10 others were wounded, Mr Kumar said.

Another official said two Indian soldiers were killed as Pakistani rangers fired rocket-propelled grenades in Tanghdar area near their de facto border, some 140 kilometres north-west of Srinagar.

India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh, lashed out at Pakistan over Saturday’s incident.

“We are stretching our hands for friendship with Pakistan but despite this we don’t understand why the ceasefire is violated by Pakistan,” he said.

On the Pakistani side, the military said its paramilitary forces responded “befittingly” to Indian fire, which killed a teenage girl.

“Indian BSF [Border Security Force] yet again resorted to unprovoked firing on working boundary near Sialkot today,” a military statement said.

“13-years-old Sumaira, resident of ... Zafarwal sector embraced martyrdom due to the firing [and] 8-year-old Mursaleen of ... Shakargarh sector got injured.”

Recent exchanges of fire across the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, which both countries administer in part but claim in full, have killed about two dozen civilians and forced thousands to flee their homes on both sides.

The South Asian rivals, who have fought two wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, have traded blame for the upsurge in firing and shelling which started on October 6 last year.

India called off peace talks in August after Pakistan first consulted Kashmiri separatists, a move some saw as a sign of a tougher stance by prime minister Narendra Modi’s new right-wing government.

* Agence France-Presse