Cross-border firing between India and Pakistan killed at least ten people on Friday, the day India marked the 50th anniversary of a 1965 war with Pakistan.Reports said that seven persons were killed from Pakistan side while three causalities occur from Indian side. Pakistani media reports said that 46 persons including 22 women were injured in Indian firing while Divisional Commissioner Jammu Pawan Kotwal told CNS that besides the killing of three civilians, at least 17 persons were injured when Pakistani Rangers resorted to shelling in Arina and RS Pora sectors. However India’s Border Security Force said 22 were wounded in firing across the frontier in the northern Jammu region."Three civilians were killed and nine injured in indiscriminate shelling by Pakistan Rangers in R.S. Pura sector of the International Border in Jammu district," a senior police officer told CNS adding that Subhash Chander, 45, and Bimla Devi, 42, both residents of Sai Khurd village, and Pawan Kumar, 55, who lived in Abdullian village, were killed.
On the Pakistani side of the frontier, seven civilians were killed and more than 40 were treated for wounds in hospital in the town of Sialkot, Pakistani media reported. Both said the other side had opened fire first.“Pakistan Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing. Initially, small arms were used but later mortar bombs were shelled on BSF posts and civilian areas,” a BSF spokesperson said. “The BSF also gave a fitting reply.” Pakistan Rangers spokesperson Major Waheed Bukhari according to Pakistani media gave a different account, saying that unprovoked firing had started overnight from the Indian side. It was followed by retaliation from the Rangers.A Pakistani military statement also said its troops “are befittingly responding to Indian firing”.In New Delhi, leaders marked the anniversary of the 1965 war fought over Kashmir that ended in a ceasefire and a return to front lines that predated the conflict. (CNS)