India says Pakistan violated cease-fire with new attacks

March 6 (UPI) -- Pakistan has violated a cease-fire agreement with India by shelling the disputed regions of Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday, Indian authorities said.

Wednesday, Pakistan again shelled India's Rajouri district of the disputed province of Jammu and Kashmir, which both countries lay claims to and control a portion of.

"Pakistan continued its nefarious designs and [for a] third time in a day again initiated unprovoked cease-fire violation by heavy shelling with artillery and firing of small arms along [the Line of Control]," defense spokesperson Lt. Col. Devender Anand said.

"The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively," he said, without elaborating.

The attacks came after the U.S. State Department said Tuesday that Mike Pompeo has led a diplomatic effort to ease tensions between the nuclear rivals. Spokesman Robert Palladino said Pompeo appealed last week to India's minister of external affairs and Pakistan's foreign minister.

"Our position -- the position of the United States -- is we continue to urge both sides to continue to take steps to de-escalate the situation, and that includes through direct communication," Palladino said in a press briefing.

"We believe strongly that further military activity will exacerbate the situation. So we reiterate our call for Pakistan to abide by its United Nations Security Council commitments to deny terrorists sanctuary and to block their access to funds."

India's defense ministry said Wednesday Pakistani troops have also violated the cease-fire by firing across the military Line of Control border between the two countries.

Palladino also said the United States is looking into claims from India that Pakistan used an American-made F-16 fighter jet last week in the ongoing confrontation, which would violate the terms of the sale. Pakistani officials have denied any F-16s were used.

"We've seen those reports and we're following that issue very closely," Palladino noted. "I can't confirm anything, but as a matter of policy, we don't publicly comment on the contents of bilateral agreements that we have in this regard involving U.S. defense technologies."

Claims of the cease-fire violations followed word from Pakistan that it intercepted an Indian submarine. Pakistan's navy said in a video posted to Facebook it could've easily destroyed the submarine had it not been for Islamabad's "policy to exercise restraint in the face of Indian aggression." India called the video propaganda.

There have been several cease-fire violations along the border since India conducted an airstrike against a Jaish-e-Mohammad training compound on Feb. 26. India says the group is responsible for a suicide attack last month that killed 40 members in an Indian military convoy.