9 June

Troops of India and Pakistan exchanged heavy fire and targeted each other's positions on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir, officials said.

The two sides exchanged fire in Mankote sector of frontier Poonch district, about 180 km southwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"This morning Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing targeting our forward posts with small arms and shelling in Mankote sector of Poonch," an army official said. "Our side also gave a befitting reply to the other side in response and the firing continued for some time."

So far no loss of life was reported in the skirmishes on the Indian or Pakistani side.

According to officials the firing started at around 6:30 a.m. (local time) and was going on until last reports poured in.

The troops of India and Pakistan intermittently exchange fire on LoC and International Border (IB) in Kashmir, despite an agreement in 2003 to observe a cease-fire. However, the cease-fire remains in effect.

New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of resorting to unprovoked firings and violating cease-fire agreements. And both sides maintain their troops gave a befitting reply to the other side.

India and Pakistan are at loggerheads with each other. There has been no considerable improvement in relations of the two countries or resumption of bilateral relations ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014 for the first time.

xinhua