Armies of India, Pakistan trade fire in Kashmir for tenth straight day

The armies of India and Pakistan on Monday once again targeted each other's positions with heavy artillery on line-of-control (LoC) in Kashmir for the tenth straight day, officials said. The ceasefire violations took place along LoC in Hamirpur and Balakote belts of frontier Poonch district, around 185 km southwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian- controlled Kashmir. According to officials heavy exchange between the armies started Sunday evening and continued until Monday morning. "Pakistani army last evening again fired at our positions in Hamirpur and Balakote," said S N Acharaya, Indian army spokesman in Jammu. "Our side also retaliated and the firing was going on until 6:15 a.m. (local time) today." Both sides used mortars, RPGs and automatic weapons, besides heavy machine guns to target each other's posts on the LoC, officials said. LoC is a de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan controlled parts. Reports said some medium range mortar shells and rockets fired by Pakistani troops landed in civilian belts of Mankote and Mendhar, triggering panic among the local residents. Acharaya said the Indian side has not suffered any damage in Monday's firing. Both India and Pakistan blame each other of resorting to unprovoked firing that triggers skirmishes resulting in civilian or troop casualties on either side.