Three civilians, soldier killed by Pak-India border clashes

At least three civilians have been killed by the latest round of sporadic border clashes between Pakistani and Indian forces on Tuesday, officials said.

Abid Mir, city police chief of Poonch District on the Pakistani side of divided Kashmir, where the clashes happened, said a woman and a 6-year-old child were killed when a mortar shell landed on a home, while another civilian was killed by shelling elsewhere in the district.

The Indian Express newspaper also reported that an Indian soldier was killed by Pakistani shelling.

Around 30 people have been killed on either side by border clashes in recent weeks prompted by heightened tensions over the killing of 18 Indian soldiers at their base in Indian-held Kashmir in September, which India blamed on Pakistan.

Islamabad denies the charge and has accused India of trying to divert attention from violence in Indian-held Kashmir that has killed scores of anti-India protesters.

The two neighbors have fought three wars – two of them over Kashmir – since 1947 and Islamabad has repeatedly warned it would not refrain from using its nuclear arsenal in case of war with India.