Indian, Pakistan Troops Continue Exchange of Fire in Kashmir

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 27, 2001

Indian, Pakistan Troops Continue Exchange of Fire in Kashmir

Indian and Pakistan troops continued their exchange of fire for the fifth day on Wednesday indisputed Kashmir with India accusing Pakistan widening the sweep of its mortar shelling and targeting forward Indian positions, reports reaching here said.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), four people, including three Indian soldiers, were killed in Jammu-Poonch and Kargil sectors on Wednesday by shelling from the Pakistan side, which forced heavy exodus of civilians.

The PTI quoted official sources in India-controlled Kashmir as saying that Pakistani troops, using heavy weaponry and rocket launchers, fired at Indian positions along the line of control andinternational border in Jammu-Poonch sector and targeted some villages in kathua district.

Indian troops hit back in retaliation from all the attacked positions and heavy exchange of firing was continuing when reportslast came in from the area. The PTI reported that 13 people, including nine Indian soldiers,were killed and 19 others injured, 12 of them soldiers, in the last five days in Pakistani shelling.

Meanwhile, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said on Wednesday that India's missile systems were "in position" even as the Army's training exercises would be held as scheduled in Rajasthan and Punjab in the first half of January.

"At the moment, we are concentrating on Agni-II ballistic missile (with a range of nearly 2500 km). We do not have any plansnow for a longer-range missile," he said in an interview.

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