Indian cross-border fire kills Pakistani child in Kashmir

At least one Pakistani child was killed and five civilians including four children were wounded after Indian troops fired into Pakistani Kashmir Saturday, officials said.

The incident took place in Nikial sector on the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir between nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India.

“An eight-year-old child... was martyred while five civilians including four children were injured due to Indian unprovoked firing targeting the civilian population,” the Pakistani military said in a statement.

However, a local civil administration official said that two children were killed in the cross border firing.

“Two children were killed in the firing by Indian forces in Nikial sector,” assistant commissioner Waleed Anwar said.

“Intermittent firing still continues,” he added.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in full.

For decades, rebel groups have fought Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence or a merger of the former Himalayan kingdom with Pakistan.

The rival armies routinely target each other across the heavily militarized LoC that divides the territory.