MojNews-At least nine people were killed Sunday in firing along the de facto India-Pakistan border in Kashmir , officials said, adding to the spike in deaths in recent days as New Delhi eased a curfew in the disputed region.
Tensions escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbors after India revoked Kashmir’s autonomy on August 5 and imposed movement and communications restrictions to quell unrest.
Officials from the two countries accused each other of firing mortar rounds and small arms along the so-called Line of Control .
“Two soldiers and a civilian were killed and three others injured in the unprovoked fire by Pakistan,” Indian Army spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said of the “unprovoked” fire in the mountainous Tangdhar region of Kupwara district.
Several homes were damaged in the attack and three civilians were being treated in a hospital, he added.
Officials in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said six civilians were killed and eight others wounded in Muzaffarabad and Neelum Valley.
“Mortar shells hit civilian houses and have so far martyred five people in Muzzafarabad and wounded six others,” said Muzaffarabad deputy commissioner Badar Munir said.
Munir said the dead included three members of one family.