MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Police in the Pakistan-ruled part of Kashmir say Indian troops across the disputed border opened fire with automatic rifles on Sunday, shooting a women dead.
Shauzia Akhtar was shot in the head and chest as she prepared breakfast in her home along the border, said Chaudhry Zulqarnain, a senior police officer for the border district of Rawalakot, where the shooting took place. There was no immediate response from India.
Thousands of Pakistani and Indian troops are stationed along the volatile border that separates a divided Kashmir region between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Cross border attacks are frequent but in recent days attacks have increased with both Pakistan and India reporting soldiers killed in the fighting. Three times in the past month, Pakistan has summoned Indian diplomats to the foreign ministry to complain.
Both countries claim a united Kashmir as their own and have twice gone to war over the territory. They fought a third war over East Pakistan, which gained independence and became Bangladesh.
Tensions escalated dangerously close to another war last year when India bombed Pakistani territory in retaliation for a deadly attack by the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed that killed dozens of Indian troops. Pakistan retaliated by shooting down an Indian fighter jet and capturing its pilot. He was returned to India the next day.