SRINAGAR — India on Wednesday accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in disputed Kashmir, calling it the most serious cease-fire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade. The attacks began Tuesday night in southern Kashmir after India's home minister visited the region to review security, Border Security Force spokesman Vinod Yadav said. Indian troops returned fire, but one Indian guard was killed and six were injured by a shell fired at the Arnia post in the Jammu region, he said. At least 100 civilians were being moved from the villages of Arnia and Ramgarh near the frontier, local Indian police officer Rajesh Kumar said. Hundreds more were sheltering overnight in government camps away from any gunfire, which had injured 12 civilians in recent days, officials said. “These people usually go back to their homes in the day as the firing incidents mainly occur during the night,” said civil administrator Shantmanu. While nearly 200 smaller violations of the 2003 cease-fire agreement have been reported this year, Yadav called the latest skirmishes the most serious in a decade. In most cases, India or Pakistan accuses the other of initiating the fighting. Both India and Pakistan, however, have reported an increase in the number of cross-border attacks since the current Pakistani and Indian prime ministers held their first face-to-face meeting last month in New York and agreed on the need to reduce tensions. Pakistan said Indian troops targeted 27 Pakistani posts near Sialkot in the last two days with machine guns and mortars. The Indians fired nearly 4,000 mortars and 59,000 machine gun rounds, and Pakistani troops responded, Pakistan's military said. During the last two weeks, Indian troops have killed two Pakistani civilians and a soldier and wounded 26 other civilians, it said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discussed his nation's dispute with India over Kashmir when he met President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday. After their meeting, neither leader mentioned the latest clashes in the disputed region, but Obama praised Sharif for seeking to end tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors that have fueled an arms race between them. Sharif said he was committed to cooperation with India, including on Kashmir. He has said he would ask Obama for US intervention and help in resolving the dispute. Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi rejected the idea of US involvement, saying Kashmir was a “bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.” — AP
