More India-Pakistan clashes

An Indian army official said Pakistan border guards targeted ten Indian border posts in the Poonch sector of the 200-km (125-mile) stretch of border in the disputed, mostly Muslim region of Kashmir on Saturday.

There had been nine days of mortar and heavy machine gun fire from both sides of the frontier up until Thursday night when the fighting abruptly stopped.

But on Saturday, the firing started again: "Our troops retaliated. Heavy firing is going on," a senior Indian army official said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the fighting until Thursday, up to seventeen civilians in the two countries had been killed, with ninety injured. Thirteen service personnel were reported wounded.

Verbal exchanges too

There has been a war of words between the two governments with each side blaming the other.

Pakistan suggested the new Indian government of nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked up the conflict over the disputed border, which has already been the scene of two wars between the countries.

Indian state elections, for which Modi has been campaigning, take place next week. A ceasefire signed in 2003 has been under pressure for the last two years.

For its part, India blames Pakistan for the tension around the dispute which began 67 years ago. Indian army officer K H Singh said: "Pakistan wants to internationalise the Kashmir issue, but they have failed in it. They have failed in infiltrating terrorists - they want to give cover to them by firing at our posts. We gave them a befitting reply."

Both claim Kashmiri terrirory

The border divides two countries which both claim all of Kashmir's Himalayan mountains and fertile valleys.

"We do not want the situation on the borders of two nuclear neighbours to escalate into confrontation," the Pakistan Ministry of Defense said in a statement last Thursday. "India must demonstrate caution and behave with responsibility."

Pakistan's Major General Khan Tahir Javed Khan, responsible for the section of the border where the violence has broken out, said that India had fired 20,000 shells so far this year, compared to just 200 in 2012.

India has accused Muslim Pakistan of backing separatist Muslim rebels in India's part of Kashmir. Pakistan denies arming the militants, claiming it only gives them diplomatic support in the face of alleged human rights abuses by Indian forces.

jm/ipj (Reuters, PTI)