Indian troops kill Pakistani soldier in Kashmir

Jan 19, 2010, 13:10 GMT

Islamabad - A Pakistani soldier was killed and another wounded Tuesday when Indian troops fired at a border post in the disputed Kashmir region, Pakistan's military said.

Indian border security forces opened 'unprovoked' fire at the Pakistani soldiers in the Rawalakot area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, it charged in a statement.

It said Pakistan had lodged a protest with Indian authorities and demanded a meeting of the officials from the two countries to discuss the issue.

Tuesday's cross-border shooting was the third violation in the past two weeks of a seven-year ceasefire between Pakistan and Indian.

Indian authorities said that on January 11, Pakistani troops opened fire at a forward post of India's Border Security Force in Kashmir, killing one soldier. The two countries again traded fire Monday morning.

The nuclear-armed neighbours both lay claim to Kashmir. They have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region.

India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire in 2003 and started a peace process to resolve issues of conflict between them, including Kashmir.

But the bilateral dialogue has been suspended since November 2008 when a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group carried out terrorist attacks in India's financial hub, Mumbai, killing at least 166 people.