Kashmiri Muslim protesters and Indian paramilitary soldiers clashed during protests after Eid al-Adha prayers in Srinagar. European Pressphoto Agency
SRINAGAR, India—At least nine civilians were killed and dozens more injured Monday as Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged fire along the two nations’ tense border, the latest in a series of deadly clashes in recent months.
India and Pakistan each blamed the other for starting the violence, which further undermined an increasingly tenuous 2003 cease-fire agreement designed to keep the peace between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Mortar shells and gunfire killed five people, including a 13-year-old girl, on the Indian side, local Indian officials said. Pakistani authorities said the death toll there was four, including two children.
The two countries share a long, volatile border, and are embroiled in a long-standing dispute over Kashmir. Each administers part of the region; both claim it in its entirety.
On Monday, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh warned that Pakistan should “understand the reality that the times have changed in India,” under a new government that has pledged to take a harder line on matters of national security. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged a diplomatic protest against what it said was India’s “unprovoked firing.” The ministry said the violence was “in complete disregard” of the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice celebrated Monday.
Relations between the two countries have been strained since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s government in August canceled planned talks with Pakistan aimed at renewing dialogue between the estranged neighbors. Indian officials said they wouldn’t attend the talks after Pakistan’s envoy in India held a meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders.
In a speech at the United Nations last month, Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said India’s decision had resulted in a “missed opportunity” and called on the international community to help solve the Kashmir dispute. The next day, Mr. Modi, also speaking at the U.N., said he wasn’t opposed to talks, but wouldn’t participate “in the shadow of terror,” adding that it was for Pakistan to “create a conducive atmosphere for talks.” India has long blamed Pakistan for supporting Islamist terror attacks in India, something Pakistan denies.
Border violence has worsened in recent months. Two weeks of fighting in August killed at least six people and left thousands homeless on both sides.
Indian and Pakistani forces traded fire through the night and into the early morning Monday at different points along their boundary, Indian Defense Ministry spokesman Manish Mehta said.
Angry Indian residents gathered in the town of Arnia, which is in the Jammu region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They burned Pakistani flags and shouted slogans against the Pakistani army.
“The firing of mortar bombs and their bursting sound made us leave our villages,” Pawan Kumar, 55 years old, said Monday. “We thought we might get killed any time.”