New Delhi – An Indian soldier was killed and three others critically injured during fresh shelling by Pakistani border forces in the disputed Kashmir region on Monday, the Indian military said.
Multiple ceasefire violations have been reported in the border region after tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated in recent weeks.
The latest ceasefire violation was reported along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Sunderbani sector of Rajouri District on Monday.
Indian army officials said the shelling by Pakistani forces claimed the life of a soldier while three more were admitted in hospital.
The army retaliated and the exchange of fire stopped about two hours later.
The LoC, a de facto border, divides the disputed Kashmir region into two parts: one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.
A suicide bombing by a Pakistan-based militant group in Indian Kashmir claimed lives of 40 paramilitary soldiers in February and resulted in heightened tensions that were later defused with the help of international intervention.
Pakistan and India both lay claim to the Kashmir region and have fought three wars, two of them about Kashmir.
They agreed to a ceasefire on the border in 2003, but it is often violated with their border forces accusing each other of targeting army posts and local people.
