NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and Pakistan exchanged "heavy" gunfire across their border on Monday, hours after the UN Security Council held its first session on Kashmir in nearly 50 years, after New Delhi abolished self-rule in its part of the disputed territory.
Clashes and skirmishes take place sporadically on the Line of Control, which has divided the territory since the end of British colonialism in 1947.
The exchange of fire comes after New Delhi canceled the constitutional status of the section controlled by Kashmir, on August 5 this year. This sparked protests from local residents, Pakistan's anger and China's discontent.
"The exchange of fire is still going on," a senior government official in India said, describing it as "heavy."
Sources said an Indian soldier was killed. Pakistan has yet to comment on the violence.
Yesterday evening, China and India successfully convened a Security Council meeting on Kashmir, behind closed doors, for the first time since the 1971 war between India and Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the meeting and said that "addressing the suffering of the people in Kashmir and ensuring the resolution of the conflict is the responsibility of this international body."
New Delhi stresses that the province's status is purely internal.
"We do not need international bodies to interfere in other affairs to try to tell us how to manage our lives. We are a nation of more than one billion people," India's UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in New York after the Security Council meeting.
For his part, US President Donald Trump urged the two nuclear countries to return to the negotiating table and, in a telephone conversation with Khan, stressed the importance of "reducing tensions through bilateral dialogue."
Trump urged the two nuclear countries to return to the negotiating table.