Firing from Pakistan kills two Kashmiri civilians
By IANSSunday, June 20, 2010
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI - Two civilian porters were killed and two Indian soldiers injured Sunday in unprovoked firing from Pakistan near Jammu and Kashmir’s Machil border sector, officials said.
“There was firing from the Pakistani side between 7 and 8 in the morning. Two porters have been killed and two soldiers injured,” an official in the Army Headquarters said in New Delhi.
“It appears to be a ceasefire violation infiltrators may also have been responsible,” the official said.
The firing incident on the Line of Control (LoC) - the de facto border that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan - comes days ahead of Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s visit to Islamabad.
If true, it would be the second violation in a week of a ceasefire agreement India and Pakistan signed in November 2003.
Chidambaram is travelling to Pakistan to attend the SAARC home ministers’ conference in Islamabad June 26.
India has expressed anguish over increasing infiltration attempts by militants from across the border with Pakistan. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting an armed separatist campaign raging since 1989.
