SRINAGAR, India, Oct 25, (Agencies): An Indian soldier was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire across the de facto border dividing Kashmir, the military said Monday, accusing Islamabad of a “major ceasefire violation”. “Pakistani troops opened machine gunfire and even fired rockets towards Indian forward posts in the southern Poonch sector, killing a soldier,” army spokesman Biplab Nath told AFP by telephone from state winter capital Jammu. Indian soldiers did not return fire, the spokesman said, describing the shooting late Sunday as “unprovoked”. “It was a major ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops,” Nath said, adding that authorities would take up the incident with their Pakistani counterparts.

India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for militants seeking to infiltrate Indian-administered Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, held in part by each country but claimed in full by both. They agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LOC) in 2003 and launched a peace process in 2004. Since then, there have been sporadic small clashes with both sides accusing the other of violating the LOC ceasefire.

This year India has accused Pakistani troops of shooting dead an Indian border guard and two civilian porters working for the army while Pakistan has accused India of killing two of its soldiers. India has long accused Pakistan of fomenting a 21-year Islamic insurgency against New Delhi’s rule in the region.
Militant violence has declined sharply since the start of the peace process but popular desire for an independent Kashmir remains strong and the state has been roiled by massive anti-India civilian protests.

Pakistan says recent street protests, in which 111 people have died, prove that resentment is local.
Army spokesman Lt Col Biplab Nath said that Pakistani soldiers fired machine guns and rockets on an Indian military post late Sunday night, killing the soldier near the frontier. Pakistan’s army could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
India also accuses Pakistan of helping Islamic militants cross from its portion of Kashmir to the Indian side, which Pakistan denies.
Sunday’s shooting occurred in Poonch sector, 110 miles (180 kms) southwest of Srinagar, the main city in the Indian portion of Kashmir, Nath said.
He said the Indian side did not retaliate as they did not want the situation to escalate. “We’re lodging a protest with our Pakistani counterparts at an appropriate level,” he said.

Also:
CHENNAI, India: Up to 23 people were hurt in southern India on Monday when a tractor ran over a bag packed with explosives used to scare off wild boars, police said.
Six women and four students were among those injured when the tractor was accidentally driven over the bag, detonating its contents close to a busy bus stop in Tamil Nadu state, 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Chennai.
Local police officer Murganandan, who like many south Indians uses only one name, said the explosives were often bought by farmers wanting to frighten marauding boars away from their fields.
“We are looking for two or three people who brought the bag to the bus stand,” he told AFP by telephone.