ISLAMABAD (Portal) – The Pakistani army claimed on Saturday that two civilians were killed by Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the first such conflict since a 2021 ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.
A group of herders in the sattwhale sector at the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the two countries, was hit, the army said in a statement, warning it reserves the right to strike back.
“The Indian Army opened indiscriminate fire on a group of herders in the Sattwhale sector in a sign of their usual inhumane crackdown on innocent Kashmiris,” the statement said.
The Indian Army did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2021, both sides agreed to a ceasefire along the disputed border in the scenic valley in a rare joint statement.
Both India and Pakistan claim the disputed territory, but each control half of it. The two countries have fought three wars since gaining independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
In 2019, the two armies came close to war by firing fighter jets and shooting down a fighter plane after Indian planes invaded Pakistani airspace, which New Delhi said served as a target for a militant training camp.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the killings and the ceasefire violation and urged the Indian envoy to lodge a protest, the statement said.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Diane Craft)