India: Soldier wounded in clash with Pakistani military in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- India's military says one of its soldiers was wounded in a clash with the Pakistani military along the contentious border region of Kashmir and Jammu on Saturday.

The incident occurred a day before Pakistan commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Indo-Pakistani War, which had been fought over the territory.

"Forward areas of the Krishna Ghati sector witnessed unprovoked cease-fire violations by Pakistan['s] army this morning," Xinhua news agency quoted Lt. Col. Manish Mehta, a locally based Indian military spokesman, as saying. "A trooper was wounded in the firing."

Pakistan did not immediately comment on the incident, which joins a series of clashes on the "Line of Control" in recent weeks.

Despite a 2003 ceasefire agreement, India and Pakistan have intermittently engaged in cross-border battles at the LoC, the de facto border separating the Kashmir and Jammu region between both countries.

At least nine Indian and Pakistani civilians were killed in shelling between both sides on Aug. 28, and a Pakistani military sniper is reported to have killed an Indian army officer in the region three days earlier. Exchanges of fire also killed at least six civilians in the Poonch district of Indian-administered Kashmir on Aug. 15 and 16.

Pakistan and India have blamed each other for initiating the exchanges, and both have admitted to returning fire. Since the 1940s, the two countries have fought three major wars, two of them primarily over control of Kashmir and Jammu.

Aug. 23 security talks between India and Pakistan were cancelled due to the recent cease-fire violations.