Cross-border shelling between India and Pakistan escalates sharply

NEW DELHI — Heavy cross-border shelling in the disputed Kashmir region killed at least three Pakistani soldiers and seven Indian troops on Wednesday, Pakistan’s military said, in a sharp escalation of violence after a deadly ambush of three Indian soldiers. At least 10 civilians also were killed, witnesses said.

The clashes were the latest in recent weeks along the heavily militarized border separating Pakistan and India and raised the specter of more unrest between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

On Tuesday, the Indian army vowed that “retribution will be heavy” after three soldiers were ambushed and killed while on border patrol in the rugged Machil area on the Indian side of the border. The body of one of the soldiers was mutilated, military officials said.

Relations between the two regional rivals have been tense since Pakistani militants attacked an Indian military outpost on Sept. 18, killing 19 Indian soldiers.

Eleven days later, India responded with what it described as “surgical strikes” on about a half a dozen sites in Pakistan that India described as staging grounds for militants waiting to cross the border.

Read more at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/deadly-clashes-in-kashmir-as-india-pakistan-tensions-deepen/2016/11/23/2b0a6533-2a18-495f-85ae-5dc06c287655_story.html