Sajjad Qayyum—AFP
Pakistani officials say three people killed, four others wounded in firing on Monday.
Pakistan accused India of killing three people including a policeman and wounding four others in cross-border firing on Monday, at a time of heightened tensions between the neighboring nations.
The incidents occurred near the border dividing India-administered Kashmir from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“A policeman, a man and a woman were killed when Indian troops opened fire across the border in Nakyal sector,” local official Zeeshan Nisar told AFP, adding four were wounded.
Nakyal lies on the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayan state between India and Pakistan, where firing which started early Monday was still continuing.
Nisar said three people were also wounded in the Neelum Valley by Indian troops. Adnan Khursheed, another local official, confirmed the firing and casualties.
Separately, six people including two women were wounded in overnight cross-border firing in the Madarpur sector, which also damaged 25 houses and three vehicles, said local government official Chaudhry Altaf.
Officials in Nakyal sector say thousands of people have fled their homes due to the firing, though they were unable to confirm precise figures. More than 70 schools have also been closed in Nakyal and Goi sectors, authorities said.
Last week authorities on both sides closed hundreds of schools along frontier areas in the south of the territory when cross-border firing killed 14 residents.
Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months, with New Delhi blaming Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base in India-administered Kashmir in September that killed 19 soldiers. India said it responded by carrying out strikes across the heavily-militarized border, although Islamabad denies these took place.
The neighbors have been engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat ever since.