ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan accused each other yesterday of violating a cease-fire agreement and opening fire on the border.

Pakistani military said Indian forces resorted to “unprovoked firing” on Pakistani positions in the disputed Kashmir region but there were no casualties. India also alleged that Pakistani troops fired at front-line Indian positions in the northern Jammu and Kashmir state leaving a soldier wounded.

“The firing started from the Indian side around 10 p.m. (1700 GMT on Friday) and intermittent firing continued for several hours,” said a Pakistani military official who declined to be identified. A “strong protest” had been lodged with India, the military said.

In New Delhi, an Indian defense spokesman told PTI that Pakistani troops fired between 1,500 to 2,000 rounds at the Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) between 10 p.m. on Friday night and 3 a.m. yesterday morning.

The LoC is a de facto border dividing the disputed Kashmir region into two parts, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.

Indian troops retaliated against the “unprovoked firing” by the Pakistani side but an Indian soldier was injured in the shootout, the report said. The NDTV network reported that Indian Army officials at the local level lodged a protest with their Pakistani counterparts yesterday.

Officials told the news channel that Pakistani forces had resorted to firing to provide cover to militants sneaking into the troubled Indian region.

There have been at least two encounters with militants near the border regions since Friday, the NDTV report said.

Brig. Gopala Krishnan Murali, a senior Indian Army officer in Jammu-Kashmir state, would not say whether suspected militants or Pakistani soldiers initiated Friday’s firing, but said that a formal complaint had been lodged with Pakistan.

India says militants trained and supported by Pakistan regularly infiltrate into its part of Kashmir to launch major attacks.

Pakistan, however, denies the charge and calls Kashmiri militants freedom fighters.

India and Pakistan announced a cease-fire on the borders of the two countries in 2003.

New Delhi has been voicing concern over the cease-fire violations on the border from time to time.

Indian Army officials have claimed that there have been 34 incidents of cease-fire violation on the LoC last year.