SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani troopers exchanged gunfire and shelling alongside their extremely militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing an Indian border guard, officers stated Thursday.

Authorities within the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir stated Pakistani troopers fired mortars and machine weapons at border posts within the southern Jammu space on Wednesday night time, calling it “unprovoked.”

India’s Border Security Force stated in a press release that its troopers “befittingly responded” and that one in every of its border guards was killed.

The preventing ended early Thursday.

There was no speedy remark from Pakistan. Each facet typically accuses the opposite of beginning border skirmishes within the Himalayan area, which each declare in its entirety.

Last month, two Indian border guards and three civilians had been injured in preventing alongside the fronter with Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have an extended historical past of bitter relations over Kashmir. They have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over their competing claims to the area. In the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, militants have fought in opposition to Indian rule since 1989. In 2003, the 2 nations agreed on a cease-fire that has largely held regardless of common skirmishes.

The nuclear-armed nations’ contended frontier features a 740-kilometer (460-mile) rugged and mountainous stretch referred to as the Line of Control that’s guarded by their armies.

Both nations even have separate paramilitary border forces guarding their considerably outlined, lower-altitude 200-kilometer (125-mile) boundary separating Indian-controlled Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Punjab.

In 2021, the 2 nations reaffirmed their 2003 cease-fire accord after months of near-daily preventing that killed scores on each side in Kashmir.