At least six Pakistanis killed in Indian shelling

SIALKOT: At least six Pakistani civilians were killed and several others sustained injuries as Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) personnel resorted to firing and shelling along the Working Boundary in Sialkot's Charwah, Harpal, Chaprar and Sucheetgarh sectors through early Friday morning, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Earlier reports suggested seven Pakistanis were killed in firing and shelling by Indian forces, however, the military's media wing has confirmed the number as six.
Sources said Punjab Rangers responded with retaliatory firing.
Rangers sources said the attacks along the Sialkot Working Boundary have mostly harmed civilians, adding that livestock belonging to residents of the area has been killed, while houses have been partially damaged.
On the other hand, Indian officials claimed firing by Pakistani border guards along the border in Kashmir left two Indian civilians dead and at least 16 wounded.
Simrandeep Singh, a local administrator, accused the Pakistani guards of unprovoked firing of small arms and mortars across the border in the R S Pura sector on Thursday night.
The Indian border guards returned fire, he said, adding that the injured Indian villagers have been evacuated to nearby hospitals.
Instances of firing across the Indo-Pak border have occurred intermittently over the years.
In the last instance of unprovoked Indian shelling in Sialkot's Sucheetgarh and Charwah sectors on Aug 18, 60-year-old Mohammad Shareef was killed when he was hit by a mortar shell.
Know more: Two killed in Indian shelling
A team of United Nations observers visited the villages hit by Indian shelling and met the family of Shareef at Thathi Khurd village, Sucheetgarh.
The UN team also met other locals affected by Indian shelling and sought details from them about the fresh BSF hostilities, which caused heavy losses of their property and livestock.
Also read: UN observers visit shelling-hit villages

The latest incident of firing comes days before India and Pakistan’s border security force chiefs are likely to meet in New Delhi.
The chiefs of the Pakistan Rangers and the Indian Border Security Force were to meet in New Delhi from Sept 9 to 13, a statement issued by the Pakistan Rangers had said.
The agenda for the meeting includes recent firing over the Line of Control, the de facto frontier in the divided Kashmir region, as well as cross-border smuggling, Pakistan Rangers spokesman Waheed Bukhari had said.
The developments come days after the first high-level peace talks in years between the two countries collapsed.
On Saturday, the first high-level peace talks in years between the two country's national security advisers were cancelled after a dispute over the agenda for those talks.
In December 2013, the two countries had pledged to uphold the 2003 ceasefire accord which had been left in tatters by repeated violations that year. The truce breaches had put the nascent bilateral peace dialogue on hold.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming independent nations in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in part.
New Delhi has for years accused Pakistan of backing separatist Muslim militants in Indian-held Kashmir. Pakistan denies the allegations and blames India for fomenting unrest inside Pakistan.