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India says one of two soldiers killed in an alleged cross-border attack by Pakistan troops in the disputed territory of Kashmir was beheaded.
Pakistan has rejected accusations that it killed any Indian soldiers or fired across the Line of Control (LoC) which divides Kashmir.
India called the attack “barbaric” and summoned Pakistan’s top envoy in Delhi over the incident.
Claimed by both countries, Kashmir has been a flashpoint for over 60 years.
A statement from the Indian foreign ministry said the soldiers’ bodies had been subjected to “barbaric and inhuman mutilation” which was “in contravention of all norms of international conduct”.
India’s chief military spokesman said one of the soldiers had been beheaded by the Pakistani army.
Troops searched the area afterwards but could not find the head, the spokesman said. India believes the Pakistanis took the head with them when they retreated.
The spokesman confirmed the body of the other soldier had been mutilated but would not give any further details.
The Pakistani foreign ministry says India’s allegations are “baseless” and it is willing to have a UN investigation.
A Pakistani military official said Pakistan had verified the facts on the ground and found “nothing of the sort” had happened.
He denounced the Indian claim as “propaganda” to divert attention away from a clash on the LoC two days earlier.
India says one of two soldiers killed in an alleged cross-border attack by Pakistan troops in the disputed territory of Kashmir was beheaded
Pakistan said one of its soldiers was killed on 6 January after an Indian incursion. India denies its soldiers crossed the line.
India says a patrol was attacked by Pakistani soldiers near the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday. It says two soldiers were killed in the firefight near Mendhar, 220 km (140 miles) north of the Indian city of Jammu.
The battle lasted about half an hour before “the intruders retreated back towards their side” of the LoC, an Indian statement said.
Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters that the “Pakistan army’s action is highly objectionable and also the way they treated the body of the Indian soldier is inhuman”.
Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi was summoned to a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary.
Earlier, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid pledged a “proportionate” response to the attack.
He said Tuesday’s incident was an “attempt to derail the dialogue” between the two countries.
Exchanges in the disputed area are not uncommon but rarely result in fatalities.
There has been a ceasefire in Kashmir since late 2003.
India suspended a peace process with Pakistan following attacks by Pakistan-based militants in Mumbai in 2008. Negotiations resumed in February last year.
Thousands of people have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since an armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989.
Last month, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to ease visa restrictions on travel for some citizens.
Kashmir dispute
- Claimed by both India and Pakistan; divided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947
- Jammu and Kashmir is the only Indian state with a Muslim majority (60%)
- Sparked wars between India and Pakistan in 1947-48 and 1965
- Third conflict in 1999, when Pakistani-backed forces infiltrated Indian-controlled territory in the Kargil area
- Armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989, since when thousands have been killed
- Fears it could trigger a nuclear conflict, as Pakistan and India both declared themselves nuclear powers in 1998
- Ceasefire across Line of Control (LoC) agreed in 2003
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India and Pakistan have exchanged fire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistan said Indian troops had raided a military post in the Haji Pir sector of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing a soldier and injuring another.
An Indian army spokesman said Pakistan had “initiated unprovoked firing” at Indian military posts.
Kashmir is claimed by both nations in its entirety and has been a flashpoint between them for more than 60 years.
Exchanges are not uncommon but rarely result in fatalities.
The Pakistani military’s public relations office said the two sides were still exchanging fire in the area.
It said Indian troops had “physically raided a checkpost named Sawan Patra”.
India and Pakistan have exchanged fire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region
The Haji Pir Pass is just south of the main road from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir.
“Pakistan army troops effectively responded to the attack,” it said, adding that Indian troops had left behind weapons as they retreated.
Colonel Brijesh Pandey, a spokesman for the Indian army in Kashmir, told the Associated Press news agency that Pakistani troops had “initiated unprovoked firing” with mortar shells and automatic weapons at Indian military posts. One civilian home was destroyed, he said.
“We retaliated only using small arms. We believe it was clearly an attempt on their part to facilitate infiltration of militants,” Col. Brijesh Pandey said.
There has been a ceasefire in Kashmir since late 2003.
India suspended a peace process with Pakistan following attacks by Pakistan-based militants in Mumbai in 2008. Negotiations resumed in February last year.
Last month, the nations signed an agreement to ease visa restrictions on travel for some citizens.
The death toll of Kashmir avalanche has risen to 135, the Pakistan army has said.
Spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians were missing after 21 m (70 ft) of snow engulfed a military camp near the Siachen Glacier on Saturday.
He had earlier said that 100 soldiers and 11 civilians were missing.
Rescuers have yet to find any survivors.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the avalanche had covered an area of 1 sq km (0.39 sq m).
The search was called off late on Saturday due to darkness and poor weather, but is set to resume early on Sunday.
Hundreds of troops, plus sniffer dogs and helicopters are involved in the rescue operation.
The death toll of Kashmir avalanche has risen to 135
In a statement, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed shock at the disaster, but said it “in no way would undermine the high morale of soldiers and officers.”
The camp, located 15,000 ft (4,572 m) above sea level in Kashmir’s Gayari district, near the border with India, was engulfed by snow at around 06:00 a.m. local time.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas earlier described the avalanche as “very massive”.
He also warned it could take several days to complete the rescue operation, which was unprecedented in scale for such a location, where temperatures can plunge to minus 70 Celsius.
As of yet, there has been no communication with any of the missing soldiers, who were from the Northern Light Infantry regiment, which is trained in mountain operations.
The region is prone to avalanches, the major general said, although they typically occur in “forward bases” at higher altitude, where only 10 or 20 troops are located.
One officer who had been stationed at the base in 2003 said he could not “comprehend how an avalanche can reach that place”.
“It was supposed to be safe,” he told the Associated Press.
A previous avalanche in the area killed 24 Pakistani troops in 2010 – believed to be the heaviest loss of life in such an incident until now.
Kashmir has been partitioned between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Failure to agree on the status of the territory by diplomatic means has twice brought India and Pakistan to war.
The Siachen glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield, and soldiers have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700 m (22,000 feet).
However, more soldiers have died from the harsh weather conditions there than in combat.
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More than 100 Pakistani soldiers have been buried by an avalanche in the disputed Kashmir region, officials say.
Local TV stations say that the incident happened near the Siachen glacier in the eastern Karakoram mountain range.
130 troops were buried when a battalion headquarters in the Gayari district was engulfed, says the AP news agency, quoting a security official.
The area is in the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told the AFP news agency that at least 100 soldiers were missing, and that a rescue operation had begun.
