Pakistan Saturday refuted India's claims that 16 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in an Indian counter-attack across the Line of Control (LoC) which divides the two neighbors in the disputed area of Kashmir.

The Indian government earlier said Pakistani troops entered Indian territory and tried to attack a post named Nidiala and Indian troops killed six of the attackers and then, in a retaliating action, destroyed a Pakistani post and killed 10 more.

Addressing a press briefing here, Tariq Altaf, spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, said it is the Indian troops which launched the attack first and they were inflicted with heavy casualties.

According to him, Indian forces crossed the LoC in the Iftikhararab sub-sector in the Chumb area on the Pakistani side and with the force of a company launched the attack on a small andlong existing Pakistani post between the two channels of the Tawi river at 03:25 a.m. (22:25 GMT Friday).

The Nidiala post is "many, many kilometers" away from the Pakistani post, according to Pakistan's military spokesman Rashid Qureshi, who was also present at the briefing.

The Indian troops used motor and other automatic weapons in the fighting which had been intense in the morning and then abated into sporadic firing, Altaf said.

He said the Pakistan troops fought in self-defense and repelled the Indian attack, inflicting casualties on them.

The Indian government claimed to have lost two soldiers. "We don't know exactly how many casualties they suffered, but no doubt their death toll was many many more," commented Qureshi.

The two spokesmen said that two Pakistani soldiers were killed in the fighting and five were missing.

The fighting has been the most serious conflict between the two long-standing rivals since the Kashmiri Mujahideen (holy warriors)evacuated from the Indian-held Kashmir in July last year.

Altaf said Pakistan will lodge a protest with the government of India over "the flagrant aggression" and will also bring the matter to the notice of the United Nations Military Observers Group in Indian and Pakistan.

He said Pakistan will "continue to exercise restraint," but the army will exercise "their right of self-defense with their well-known sense of commitment and determination."

"We call upon India to exhibit responsibility and refrain from aggressive action which could result in grave consequences," said the spokesman.

He also asked the world community to "restrain India from escalating tension in the region."