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. Sunday, 17 March, 2002

India, Pakistan in Kashmir Shootout

VOA News
17 Mar 2002
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Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged mortar and machine gun fire across the border in Kashmir Sunday, ending a month of relative calm. 

Indian military officials say the Pakistani troops launched an unprovoked mortar attack on soldiers in the Samba region, wounding one Indian fighter. 

Indian troops returned fire in an exchange that lasted for at least two hours. Pakistan has not commented on the incident and there is no word if any of its troops were wounded. 

Both countries have massed about one million troops on both sides of the border since India blamed Pakistan for a December attack on the parliament in New Delhi that killed 14 people. 

Earlier Sunday, Indian officials said violence in Kashmir between Muslim guerrillas and police has killed 13 people over the past three days. 

A military spokesman said four Muslim militants were killed Sunday during a gunbattle with security forces in the Kupwara district near the Pakistan border. Four more militants were reported killed in a separate shootout in the north. 

The spokesman said two more Muslim guerrillas, a member of the Indian Border Security Force and two civilians died in clashes and explosions elsewhere in Kashmir. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP. 

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