Indian and Pakistani troops have traded gunfire and mortars in the disputed Kashmir region, killing at least eight civilians and injuring several others, according to news reports.
Al Jazeera has learned that a woman has succumbed to her injuries on Sunday morning, bringing to six the number of fatalities on the Indian side. Pakistani media, meanwhile, reported that two people were killed and six others were injured on its side of the border.
Shelling between Pakistani and Indian forces continued overnight, making it the eighth consecutive day of firing between the two sides, which both marked the 69th anniversary of their independence from Britain on Friday and Saturday respectively. Earlier, Indian Police Inspector-General Danish Rana said that three of the Indian fatalities were caused by a shell fired by Pakistani troops in the Balakote sector of the divided region on Saturday. The dead included a village headman.
Rana said at least 20 civilians were wounded in the fighting at different places in the region and that at least six of them were being airlifted to neighbouring Jammu city for treatment. On the Pakistani side, Adnan Khurshid, a senior official in the town of Kotli, told AFP news agency that an elderly man was killed in the Nakyal sector on Saturday.
