MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 4: Indian troops shelled a southern district of Azad Kashmir on Friday following heavy overnight exchanges between the two nuclear neighbours, officials said.

Darra Sher Khan village in the Hajira sector of the southern Poonch district was shelled during the morning and then again in the early afternoon, a local official told AFP from Rawalakot.

Details on any casualties and damage were not immediately available, he said.

In Islamabad, military spokesman Brigadier Saulat Reza was unable to confirm whether Pakistani troops had retaliated, as is usually the case.

However, he said during the last 24 hours “Indian troops had resorted to unprovoked shelling, injuring three women and four children” in the Kotli sector, south of Poonch district.

Earlier, a district official said the Indian army on Thursday evening started “unprovoked” shelling across the Line of Control.

“Indian forces used mortars and artillery for about two hours,” he said, adding Pakistani forces had returned the fire.

Indian defence officials said Pakistani troops targeted two posts with mortar fire in the Indian zone of the Poonch district late Thursday, to which its army retaliated.

Tension between the two South Asian nuclear rivals have escalated in recent weeks since the Dec 13 attack on India’s parliament building in New Delhi.

Both countries have moved tens of thousands of troops to their border in recent weeks and traded tit-for-tat diplomatic sanctions.—AFP