Indian forces fired across a ceasefire line separating the Indian and Pakistani parts of the disputed Kashmir region today, killing a Pakistani soldier and wounding one, the Pakistani military said.
The incident in Rawalakot sector in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir is the latest in a spate of border skirmishes in recent weeks that has raised tension between the nuclear-armed rivals.
The United States wants the two countries to ease their rivalry which includes competition for influence in Afghanistan, in the hope of helping Western efforts to bring stability there.
"It was an unprovoked firing," a Pakistani military spokesman said.
Pakistan had lodged a protest with India and called for an immediate meeting of military commanders in the area, he said.
India said its soldiers were fired upon by rockets and machine guns from the Pakistani side for more than an hour before they retaliated.
"We suspect they fired to cover infiltrators from entering Indian Kashmir," said an army official, who asked to remain unnamed.
Border skirmishes underline long-standing mistrust between the South Asian neighbours which have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, since their independence in 1947.
Their relations have been strained since India suspended a peace process with Pakistan after an assault on the Indian city of Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants in November 2008.
Last week, Indian officials said one of their soldiers was killed in firing across the Line of Control, an old ceasefire line which separates the two sides in Kashmir.
Pakistani and Indian forces traded fire across the border near the Pakistani city of Sialkot on Sunday night and a similar incident was reported on January 8th.
Both sides routinely blame the other for provoking the fire. They both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part.
Reuters