Daily Times

SRINAGAR: Gun battles raged on the disputed border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir on Tuesday, two days after a deadly raid on an Indian army base that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Colonel Rajesh Kalia said there had been a “ceasefire violation” near Uri, where Sunday’s attack took place, but gave no further details. Uri is near the Line of Control (LoC).

Kalia said troops in the same area had blocked an attempt by suspected militants to cross the LoC into Indian-held Kashmir.

“A group of 10-12 terrorists attempted to infiltrate the Uri sector. They were intercepted and the infiltration bid was foiled,” he told AFP.

The Press Trust of India news agency said 10 suspected militants had been killed in the incident but this could not immediately be confirmed.

Another army spokesman said they were battling an unknown number of militants in Nowgam sector, south of Uri, who were trying to sneak into the Indian-held side on the heavily militarised border.

“This second infiltration bid (in Nowgam) by an unknown number of terrorists has also been foiled and the operation is on… Unfortunately we have lost one soldier there,” Col Manish Kumar said, adding there was no information about any other casualties.

Meanwhile, an hour after the Indian media claimed troops of its country had exchanged fire with Pakistani soldiers alongside the disputed border in Kashmir, the Foreign Office spokesperson denied the reports, saying no shot had been fired by Pakistan.

“There seems to be some activity across the border but there has been no activity from our side, not one shot fired from here,” Nafees Zakaria told Reuters.

A senior Army official in Azad Kashmir’s capital of Muzaffarabad said there was no firing along the Line of Control. Both sides were on high alert and strengthening their positions, he added.

Eighteen soldiers died in Sunday’s attack, which was the worst of its kind to hit the Himalayan region in more than a decade and has increased hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Pakistan has rejected India’s claims as “unfounded and premature”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern over the violence in Kashmir, urging both sides to reduce tensions. “The secretary reiterated the need for Pakistan to prevent all terrorists from using Pakistani territory as safe havens,” the State Department said after Kerry met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York.

India regularly accuses its archrival of arming and sending rebels across the border to launch attacks on Indian forces. Tuesday’s exchange was the first since Sunday’s attack, which the Indian army has blamed on Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The same outfit was implicated in an audacious assault on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab in January.

During his election campaign he promised to take a hard line over Kashmir and has faced calls from army veterans – and even some in his own party – for military action against Pakistan.