Pakistan, India exchange fire across Line of Control

Indian army soldiers at the Line of Control

SRINAGAR Indian forces resorted to ‘unprovoked firing’ on Pakistani positions across the Line of Control but there were no casualties in the rare clash between the rivals, the Pakistani military said on Saturday.‘The firing started from the Indian side at around 10 p.m. (1700 GMT on Friday) and intermittent firing continued for several hours,’ said a Pakistani military official who declined to be identified. A ‘strong protest’ had been lodged with India, the military said. There was no immediate Indian response. Meanwhile, Indian army officials have said that an Indian soldier was injured when Pakistani troops allegedly fired at Indian army positions across the Line of Control, the Indian army said. The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border. According to the Indian army officials, Pakistani troops fired 1,500-2,000 machinegun rounds towards Indian forward posts in the Western Uri sector, an Indian army spokesman said. The firing lasted five hours, ending early Saturday morning, the spokesman said, adding that Pakistani fire was ‘unprovoked’.