Overnight shelling in Kashmir kills 2

New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of unprovoked firing, targeting civilians

At least two people were killed and 16 more injured in overnight shelling by Indian and Pakistani forces along the line of control between the two countries in Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani officials said on Thursday.

Each side accused the other of resorting to unprovoked firing and targeting civilian areas.

India has summoned a top Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi to lodge a protest over the repeated cease-fire violations along the international border in the disputed territory of Kashmir, sources said.

"Pakistan's deputy high commissioner to India in New Delhi has been told that unprovoked firing by Pakistan must stop," the sources said.

'Befitting' responses

Earlier in the day, Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley warned that "Pakistan has clearly been the aggressor. They must realize our deterrents will be credible.

"If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable."

Pakistan said on Thursday it was fully capable to "befittingly" respond to any Indian aggression and India should act in a responsible manner.

"We do not want the situation on the borders of two nuclear neighbors to escalate into confrontation," the Pakistani Defense Ministry said in a statement. "India must demonstrate caution and behave with responsibility."

No response of the Pakistani side to its envoy's been summoned is available.

Pakistan Rangers, the border security force of Pakistan in Kashmir, continued mortar shelling and automatic weapons firings from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, police in India-controlled Kashmir told the media.

"Five civilians have been injured in Pakistani shelling during the night. Two people were injured in Ramgarh sector of Samba district while three were injured in Kanachak area of Akhnoor sector," local police said.

Intermittent firing

Intermittent exchanges of fire between the Border Security Force of India, a paramilitary force of the country, and Pakistan Rangers are still going on at some places on the border, said the news service.

At least seven people, all civilians, have been killed and over 60 injured in Pakistani shelling of targets in India-controlled Kashmir over the past week, local media reports said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said Indian shelling on Thursday killed two more civilians, taking the death toll on the Pakistan-controlled side to 12 over the past four days.

They said all educational institutions in the border regions have been closed because of the continued Indian shelling.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will convene a meeting of the top military and civilian leaders on Friday to discuss the escalations, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

"The National Security Committee will discuss the recent cease-fire violations by India at the line of control and working boundary," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Pakistani and Indian border troops have been involved in exchange of firing since Monday, causing casualties on both sides. Almost all those who died or injured were civilian.

Monday saw the heaviest shelling that had left nine people dead on both sides on a single day, officials in both countries said.

Both countries had declared a cease-fire in 2003, and the current escalations could pose a threat to the cease-fire.

The current escalations could harm efforts to normalize relations between the two neighbors.

However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the media on Wednesday evening that everything would be fine on the line of control with Pakistan, giving hope that the two countries might seek a resolution soon to the ongoing firings.

Xinhua - Reuters

An injured boy is taken to a hospital in India-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, as violence escalates in the disputed region.  Mukesh Gupta / Reuters