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India, Pakistan Trade Fire In Kashmir; Two Indian Troops Reported Killed


An Indian man walks near smoke rising from a residential area that was gutted from firing allegedly from the Pakistan side of the border in Jora farm village, in Ranbir Singh Pura district of Jammu and Kashmir in May.
An Indian man walks near smoke rising from a residential area that was gutted from firing allegedly from the Pakistan side of the border in Jora farm village, in Ranbir Singh Pura district of Jammu and Kashmir in May.

India and Pakistan exchanged fire across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed region of Kashmir, Indian officials say, days after the two neighbors agreed to uphold a 2003 cease-fire agreement.

Indian officials said two paramilitary soldiers were killed and at least seven civilians were wounded on June 3, when it said Pakistani border rangers opened fire on posts along the frontier.

Pakistan did not immediately comment.

The two nuclear-armed rivals regularly accuse one another of violating a 2003 cease-fire, with cross-border fire frequently resulting in the deaths of civilians and soldiers on both sides.

On May 29, Pakistan and India pledged to respect the conditions laid out in the truce accord "in letter and spirit," after exchanges of fire along the LoC killed dozens of civilians and soldiers since the beginning of the year.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been divided between Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

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