Indian unprovoked attack on Sialkot working boundary kills three civilians

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), three civilians Ghulam Mustafa, Rahat and Boota from Malana and Salehpur villages embraced shahadat due to Indian unprovoked firing on working boundary while five civilians were injured.

18 years old Zareena bibi embraced shahadat at LoC in Neza pir sector near Rawlakot, ISPR added.

Reuters added that India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire and mortar bombs along their disputed frontier on Thursday, killing five civilians and injuring more than a dozen, Pakistan said, days after the leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals agreed to high-level talks.

The escalating hostilities have chilled a brief thaw in ties after prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi met in Russia, but appeared unlikely to thwart a planned meeting of national security advisers.

“We remain committed to steps that contribute to peace and tranquillity on the border,” Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said after top officials huddled in New Delhi on Friday.

“However, there should be no doubt that any unprovoked firing from the Pakistani side would meet with an effective and forceful response from our forces.”

Five Pakistani civilians were killed “due to Indian unprovoked firing”, the Pakistani military said in statements on the clashes on the frontier in the disputed Kashmir region.

India said a woman on its side of the frontier was killed in Pakistani firing the previous day.

Hopes for warmer ties were raised last week when Modi and Sharif met on the sidelines of a summit in Ufa, Russia and agreed that their national security advisers would hold talks.

Modi also agreed to visit Pakistan in 2016.

On Wednesday, the Pakistani military said it had shot down an Indian surveillance drone. A photograph released by the military appeared to show a small, unarmed model.

The Indians denied the drone was theirs, with Jaishankar saying it appeared to be “commercially available” Chinese design.