JAMMU, India, (Reuters) – India accused old enemy Pakistan of sending troops across the heavily militarised line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir yesterday, and said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gunfight.
The body of one of the soldiers was found “badly mutilated” in a forested area of the Himalayan territory on the side controlled by India, said Rajesh K. Kalia, spokesman for the Indian army’s Northern Command.
The army said in a separate incident later in the day both sides shot at each other for more than an hour across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir. After that more shots were fired over the line from Pakistan, with no more casualties or injuries, the army said.
A Pakistani army spokesman denied what he said were Indian allegations of “unprovoked firing”.
He branded India’s allegations “propaganda” to divert attention away from a clash along the line two days earlier in which Pakistan had said one of its soldiers was killed after an Indian incursion. India denied its troops crossed over.
India considers the entire region of snow-capped mountains and fertile valleys an integral part of its territory. Pakistan contests that and demands implementation of a 1948 U.N. Security Council resolution for a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
