India: Cross-border fire in Kashmir region August 14; two killed

Event

On Tuesday August 14, two Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Indian Army during military operations in the Tangdhar sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district. This clashes occurred a day after the Indian Army lost a soldier to ceasefire violations in the sector, and two days after a policeman was killed (four others wounded) in an encounter in Srinagar's Batamaloo district.

Context

Jammu and Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in Hindu-majority India. After independence from colonial rule (August 1947), India and Pakistan fought a war over the region of Kashmir. An insurgency started in the Indian Kashmir Valley in the late 1980s.

Advice

As a reminder, some Western governments advise their citizens against travel to parts of Kashmir, notably areas along the Line of Control (LoC), due to the significant risk of violence.