Pakistan, India exchange fire after deadly shooting

TROOPS from Pakistan and India exchanged fire overnight across the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir, officials said yesterday, after the UN urged the nuclear-armed rivals to show “maximum restraint” following a deadly shooting in the region.

- 

Relations have plunged to their lowest level in years, with India accusing Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen carried out the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir in a quarter of a century.

Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a government official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said yesterday that troops exchanged fire along the Line of Control (LOC) that separates the two countries. “There was no firing on the civilian population,” he said.

India’s army confirmed there had been limited firing of small arms that it said had been “initiated by Pakistan”, adding it had been “effectively responded to”.