India and Pakistan ceasefire shaken by overnight border fighting in disputed Kashmir region

A ceasefire between India and Pakistan was shaken by overnight fighting in Kashmir, as both sides reported shelling and accused each other of violating the truce.

A ceasefire to end the conflict between India and Pakistan was shaken by overnight border fighting in the disputed Kashmir region.

People on both sides of the Line of Control, which divides the territory, reported heavy exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops. The fighting subsided by Sunday morning.

The two countries agreed to a truce a day earlier after talks to defuse the most serious military confrontation between them in decades following a gun massacre of tourists that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge.

As part of the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to immediately stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea. They accused each other of repeatedly violating the deal just hours later.

Drones were spotted Saturday night over Indian-controlled Kashmir and the western state of Gujarat according to Indian officials.

In the Poonch area of Indian-controlled Kashmir, people said the intense shelling from the past few days had traumatized them.

“Most people ran as shells were being fired,” said college student Sosan Zehra who returned home Sunday. “It was completely chaotic.”

In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir’s Neelum Valley, which is three kilometers (two miles) from the Line of Control, people said there were exchanges of fire and heavy shelling after the ceasefire began.