Pakistan and Indian troops exchanged fire across a de facto border dividing the disputed Kashmir region on Monday, wounding a Pakistani woman, police and security officials said. The exchange was the latest in a spate of recent small clashes along the border, known as Line of Control, after a period of calm since a ceasefire in late 2003 and a peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals was launched in 2004. “It was a brief exchange. Maybe a few rounds but unfortunately, a woman received a bullet in her leg,” a security official, who asked not to be identified, said of the exchange in the Madarpur sector in the south of Kashmir. Relations between the two old rivals have been strained since a suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence in 1947. India and Afghanistan have accused a Pakistani spy agency of involvement in the Kabul attack. India also expressed concern about the possibility of Pakistani support for militants after bomb attacks in New Delhi on Sept. 13. India accuses Pakistan of arming, abetting and sending insurgents across the border into Kashmir. Pakistan denies the accusation, saying it only offers political support for what it calls a legitimate freedom struggle. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. Singh said last month that the Kabul bombing had cast a shadow over the peace process.
