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World - Asia/Pacific

Villagers flee artillery fire on India-Pakistan border

August 5, 1998
Web posted at: 11:39 p.m. EDT (0339 GMT)

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian and Pakistani troops launched artillery shells at each other for the seventh straight day Wednesday, forcing tens of thousands of villagers in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir from their homes.

At least 120 people have died since fighting began last Thursday, and each side has blamed the other for the heightened violence.

"Overall, what one can say is that the Pakistani shelling is continuing with Indian retaliation," said Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes. "The main casualties and injured are civilians, a very large number of injured. They are hitting schools, hospitals and residential areas."

"The Indian pounding ... is almost unprecedented for its ferocity and the huge quantity of ammunition fired," a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in Islamabad.

He called the artillery and mortar fire from the Indian side of the U.N.-monitored Line of Control, or LOC, "unprovoked."

India charges Pakistan is training rebels

RELATED VIDEO
CNN's Anita Pratap reports on the shelling
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In the last 50 years, India and Pakistan have gone to war against each other three times -- twice over the remote Himalayan region, two-thirds of which is ruled by India as its only Muslim-majority state.

Civilians describe the latest outbreak of violence as an all-out war.

"At least 50 or 60 homes have been destroyed by the shelling," villager Nizam Gulab said. "We have had to leave our homes to avoid being hit."

The border isn't the only hot spot in the troubled region -- attacks on Hindu civilians in the interior by Islamic rebels is causing concern in New Delhi, which has accused Islamabad of waging what it calls a proxy war in India through Kashmiri rebels.

Pakistani officials denied the charges, but Fernandes said Indian soldiers had intercepted Pakistani-trained militants.

"These actions by Pakistan are in consonance with its calculated design to obstruct and stall peaceful bilateral dialogue and to create a sense of alarm," Fernandes said.

While occasional bouts of gunfire are common between Indian and Pakistani troops, the incidents along the border have increased since both countries tested nuclear weapons in May.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in Colombo on July 29 for bilateral talks aimed at resuming stalled peace talks, but foreign ministry officials of the two countries have been unable to find common ground since then.

New Delhi Bureau Chief Anita Pratap contributed to this report.
 
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