ISLAMABAD, June 18 — Four people have been killed in a shelling by the Indian army along the de facto India-Pakistan border in Kashmir, the Pakistan military and local officials said yesterday.

Major General Babar Iftikhar said on Twitter that the Indian military had violated a ceasefire in the disputed region, killing four "innocent civilians” and wounding one more in the southern part of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"Pak Army troops responded effectively to Indian firing,” Iftikhar said, without elaborating.

Local officials told AFP the deaths had been caused by artillery shells landing in two neighbouring villages.

The Indian foreign ministry did not immediately release a statement about the incident.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence over Kashmir.

Shelling and the exchange of fire across their Kashmir demarcation line is a near-daily occurrence, and in February 2019, they conducted tit-for-tat airstrikes.

Tensions increased between the nuclear-armed neighbours after India revoked Kashmir's autonomy on August 5 last year and imposed movement and communications restrictions to quell unrest.

A new spat erupted this week after New Delhi accused Islamabad of torturing two Indian diplomats who had been arrested in an alleged hit-and-run in the Pakistani capital. Islamabad rejected the claims.

The fracas comes after New Delhi expelled two officials from Pakistan's high commission on June 1 for alleged "espionage activities” — claims Islamabad has also rejected. — AFP