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One Killed, Another Injured as India, Pakistan Engage in Massive Firefight at Border

New Delhi (Sputnik): India and Pakistan have long been loggerheads over the disputed territory of Kashmir with numerous instances of firefights and shelling, but the situation escalated in 2019 after dozens of Indian soldiers were killed in a vehicle-borne suicide bombing attack in Pulwama district.
Sputnik

A spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces, Major General Babar Iftikhar, has accused India of deliberately targeting civilians on 27 April. 

According to Iftikhar, a woman died and an eight-year-old sustained injuries "in unprovoked ceasefire violations" by Indian troops in the Jandrot and Khuiratta Sectors along the Line of Control on Pakistan's side of Kashmir.

However, the Indian Army retaliated by accusing Pakistani troops of firing in the Hajipeer and Uri sectors in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. The army stated that unprovoked firing started in the late afternoon.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in repeated cross-border firing since the start of the month, which has killed at least half a dozen civilians from both sides and left dozens more injured.

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Pakistan has alleged that India has violated the ceasefire about 805 times this year while India has claimed that Islamabad has initiated cross-border fire around 900 times.  

Kashmir has been a bone of contention between the two nuclear-armed nations since independence from British rule in 1947.

The two countries have fought three wars over the territory, which is currently divided by the line of control (de-facto border). Bilateral relations between the two neighbours dipped to a fresh low when India revoked Kashmir's special status in August 2019. 

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