At least nine civilians and military personnel have been killed in cross-border shelling between Pakistani and Indian forces across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, and the two countries have exchanged accusations about who is responsible for the bloodiest escalation since New Delhi's decision to abolish Kashmir's special status in August.
Al Jazeera correspondent in Islamabad quoted official sources confirming the killing of five people and wounding several others as a result of Indian shelling on Kashmir villages near the Line of Control between the two parts of Kashmir in Wadi Neelam.
The same sources said that the Pakistani forces responded to the sources of fire, and that the situation in the Neelam Gilm Kashmiri sector is very tense.
As for the death toll of the clashes, Pakistani military spokesman Asif Ghafour said it killed nine Indian soldiers, accusing the Indian army of deliberately targeting civilians.
For its part, India talked about the killing of two soldiers and one civilian in the Pakistani artillery shelling, while the Indo-Asian News Agency reported that the Indian army bombed Pakistani camps with artillery.
Both sides described the shelling from the other side as an unjustified violation of the ceasefire, and both the Pakistani and Indian armies confirmed that they responded with more violent shelling.
Commenting on the latest developments, Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Raja Farooq Haider, said in a tweet that Indian troops in Kashmir were "crazy," adding that the dead and wounded civilians were killed in Muzaffarabad and Neelam districts.