Indian soldier killed, two wounded near Kashmir border

India accuses Pakistan of helping rebels infiltrate Kashmir across the LoC, a charge Islamabad denies.


Afp May 19, 2014
About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for independence or merger of the Himalayan territory with Pakistan. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

SRINAGAR: An Indian army soldier has been killed and two others wounded in a skirmish near the heavily militarised de facto border with Pakistan in Indian Kashmir, a defence spokesperson said Monday.

"A patrol of the army was targeted by mines and small arms fire by a group of unidentified armed personnel," a defence statement said, referring to the clash on Sunday night.

The incident took place in Akhnoor, 350 kilometres south of the main city of Srinagar, as hardline prime minister-elect Narendra Modi was busy giving shape to a new government in New Delhi.

Modi, who has said that peace talks with Pakistan cannot take place at the same time as violence, swept to power on Friday after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored the first parliamentary majority in 30 years.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by a heavily militarised de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC) and the territory is claimed in full by both countries.

Modi has previously reacted sharply to clashes on the border and his top aide Amit Shah has said on several occasions that Pakistan's army would not "dare" cross the LoC with Modi as prime minister.

He is expected to be sworn in later this week.

About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for independence or merger of the Himalayan territory with Pakistan. The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

India accuses Pakistan of helping the rebels infiltrate Kashmir across the LoC, a charge Islamabad denies, saying it provides only moral and diplomatic support.

Bilateral ties between India and Pakistan have only slightly recovered from the rock bottom they hit after the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were allegedly killed by Pakistani gunmen.

COMMENTS (16)

hindustan muslim | 9 years ago | Reply when speration was going on every person hind, muslim, sikh, christan, jain, buddhist, took a decision which reflect our future and place we live everyone should respect their ancestor desion snd should stop commenting on each other . whats matter is everyone is living in peace in their country pakistan can never take kashmir beacuse the people their dont want it. peace in kashmir is broken by these infiltration done by pakistan pakistan should focus on there country development with the laden thing everyone knows they can't trust pakistan pakistan is surviving because of america funding on there own the are nothing but still they took children of their narion and make them millitant the exploit the poor people of their they are mudrer of their own people. let's not forget ISI image around the world.
chand | 9 years ago | Reply

@Muslim trying to pretend as an Indian muslim who is supporting Pakistan. Nice try to instigate anti Muslim sentiment amongst Indian Hindus. Indian muslims are defined by their accomplishments and not by their religion in India. By now, Pakistanis know about it by sure, as to what they accomplished after independence and what Indian Muslims achieved. The fact is Indian muslims have beaten Pakistan in every aspect. And even if you are really an Indian, people like are very few in number, and it does'nt matter to Indian army or its security forces since, a Muslim army officer might itself gun you down if you resort to violence or try anything stupid, with the help of those dirty handlers across the border. 1st let Pakistan as a country survive the bombings and gun shots, it would be a great miracle if a day passes by without it.

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