Pakistan and Indian soldiers exchange border fire

Indian and Pakistani border guards exchanged assault rifle and machine gun fire today, hours before the Indian Parliament was to issue a response to a terrorist attack that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad.

Much of the cross-border firing was in the Samba and Ramgarh sectors, where Indian soldiers are trying to build a fence along the border, army officials said in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.

The Indian army alleges that Pakistani rangers frequently fire at workmen and soldiers to hamper the fence construction.

Small and medium weapons fire was also reported from the Punch and Naushara areas, where the Himalayan territory is divided between India and Pakistan by a 1972 ceasefire line.

In New Delhi, parliament was set to discuss India’s response to an attack on Tuesday by three militants in army uniforms at an army base in Kashmir that left 34 people dead.