Pakistan accuses India of firing on Kashmir UN military observers

Photographs released by the Pakistani military purporting to show UN vehicles fired on by Indian troops in Kashmir

Pakistan’s military has accused the Indian army of opening fire on United Nations peace keepers along the contested Kashmir frontier.

The information wing of the Pakistani military released photos it said showed bullet holes in a white vehicle bearing UN markings.

There was no immediate statement or confirmation from the United Nations peace keeping mission and India denied the incident.

The accusation came as Pakistan’s foreign minister claimed India was planning a "surgical strike" against his Islamic nation, the latest in a war of words between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke during a televised news conference in the United Arab Emirates where he is currently on a two-day visit for talks with senior UAE government officials.

He did not offer evidence to support his claim but cited "credible intelligence" about the alleged plot. He added that Pakistan was fully prepared to respond to any such attack from India, which he said could endanger peace in the region.

UN observers have spent decades monitoring the heavily militarised line of control between the rivals, where there is regular firing and shelling despite a ceasefire. Both sides claim the disputed Himalayan territory in full and their dispute has been the source of several conflicts since they became independent from Britain.

Scores of troops and civilians are killed or wounded along the frontier each year and each side accuses the other of breaking the truce.

A statement from the Pakistani military said the incident had place in the Chirikot sector.

“Indian troops deliberately targeted a United Nations vehicle with 2 Military Observers on board, en route to interact with ceasefire violation victims.”

Neither of the observers was hurt, the statement said. The UN peacekeeping mission was established in 1949 and is currently around 110-strong. The biggest contributors are currently Korea, Croatia and the Philippines.

Maj Gen Ravi Patil, of the Indian army’s information wing, said: “Reports of targeting United Nations vehicle are not true.”

A senior Indian Army official, on condition of anonymity, claimed the pictures were "most probably old".