India: Army officer killed in Pakistani firing on Kashmir LoC

A junior level officer of Indian army was killed early Monday near line-of-control (LoC) dividing Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani controlled parts, officials said. The officer was killed near Kaman post sector of Uri town in frontier Baramulla district, around 130 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "An officer of junior commissioned officer (JCO) rank was killed after Pakistani army resorted to unprovoked firing on our posts in Uri at 12:15 a.m. local time today," said Col. Naresh Vig, Indian army spokesman in Srinagar. "This is a clear violation of cease-fire." Vig said the Indian army has not retaliated to Pakistani firing. "We have lodged the protest about the cease-fire violation," he said. Initially Indian army said it was not clear whether the JCO was killed by militants or in cross LoC firing. A guerrilla war is also going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in the restive region since 1989. Skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani troops posted on LoC and international border (IB) in Kashmir have been going on for more than two months. Initially the clashes were reported along LoC in Poonch. Later it spread to IB where border guards from both sides targeted each other for days together. Both sides have suffered troop as well as civilian casualties during the standoff on the 720 km long LoC and 198 km IB. New Delhi and Islamabad in 2003 agreed to observe cease-fire along the IB and LoC in Kashmir. Though some violations have been reported on both sides, the cease-fire remains in effect. Both New Delhi and Islamabad blame each other of resorting to unprovoked firing on LoC and IB. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Pakistan and India to resolve the ongoing tensions along the dividing LoC in Kashmir through dialogue. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their Independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.