3 Pakistani troops killed in cross-border firing

By Amir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least three Pakistani soldiers were killed and another injured in an alleged attack by Indian forces across the disputed Kashmir border, the Pakistan army said on Monday.

Indian troops initiated "unprovoked" firing at the Rawalkot sector of the Line of Control -- a de facto border which divides the Himalayan valley between the two neighbors, said the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan army's media wing, in a statement.

The border clash -- the latest in a series of skirmishes in recent months -- followed a meeting between alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and his family in the capital Islamabad earlier on Monday.

Jadhav was sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan eight months ago over espionage charges. Islamabad says he is a serving Indian naval officer, while New Delhi insists he had retired.

The two nuclear-powers are going through a rough patch in their relations after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Indian-held Kashmir last September by militants India claims had links to Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two over Kashmir. Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.