New Delhi (Sputnik): Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and one was critically injured amid cross-border gunfire and and shelling between India and Pakistan on Tuesday. One Indian soldier was also killed, while five others sustained injuries in the hostilities, which flared up on Monday. The exchange of fire between the two armies has spread to more areas along the line of control (de facto border).
READ MORE: India Operationalises Strategic Command Near Border With China
"Three brave sons of soil laid their lives in the line of duty. Indian troops resorted to unprovoked fire in Rakhchakri, Rawalakot Sector along Line of Control(LoC)," Inter-Services Public Relations of Pakistan(ISPR) said.
Tuesday marks the second consecutive day of heavy firing and shelling between the two nuclear-armed nations. Earlier on Monday, an Indian border guard was killed and four others wounded in shelling across the border in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to media reports, a 5-year-old was killed in Jammu in yesterday's exchange of fire, while many others have sustained injuries on both sides.
READ MORE: Indian Su-30MKI Jets Force Pakistani F-16s to Retreat to Own Airspace — Source
After the terror attack in Pulwama, the Indian Air Force conducted an airstrike on an alleged terror camp in Balakot inside Pakistan on 26 February, which resulted, the following day, in the first dogfight between the two nation's warplanes in five decades. Pakistan claimed that two Indian fighter jets were shot down in the clash while India contradicts the Pakistani claim, saying that an Indian MiG-21 Bison was downed along with a Pakistani F-16.