NEW DELHI, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Indian troops fired mortars at Pakistani posts Monday across the de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir in a bid to halt the infiltration of Islamic rebels, officials said.
Military officials said Pakistani troops opened fire on Indian posts to give a cover to infiltrating rebels.
"We have responded to Pakistani shelling," a senior defense official said.
At least four militants were shot while they attempted to enter Indian territory from Pakistan near the Line of Control, as the de facto border is called.
Another 19 people were killed in violence between Indian troops and Islamic rebels across Kashmir state.
India and Pakistan have routinely exchanged fire along the disputed LoC in Kashmir, which both sides claim. But Monday's firing came as Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Islamabad in an apparent bid to defuse the tension between the two South Asian neighbors.
India accuses Pakistan of fomenting and financing a 12-year-old separatist Islamic uprising in Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state. Islamabad denies the charge. More than 36,000 people have died in the uprising.
India regards the separatist movement in Kashmir as a terrorist force; Pakistan regards them as freedom fighters. New Delhi wants Washington to include Kashmiri separatist groups in its war on terrorism.
