India on Tuesday accused arch-rival Pakistan of continuing to push Islamic militants into its part of disputed Kashmir following fresh clashes along the heavily militarised border.
In the latest incidents, three Indian army soldiers and five Islamic militants were killed in two separate clashes near the Line of Control - pushing up the average daily death toll after a period of relative calm.
"There has been no let-up on the part of Pakistan to infiltrate terrorists along treacherous routes in occupied Kashmir," army spokesman Anil Kumar Mathur told AFP. He said two more soldiers were hurt in the fighting in the districts of Kupwara and Gulmarg - both of which touch the Line of Control - and added that troops recovered arms and explosives.
The Indian army says it has registered an increase in militant infiltration in occupied Kashmir, which is split between the two nuclear-armed rivals, but claimed by both. Islamabad denies New Delhi's charges of arming and funding the militants, and has pledged to do its best to stop insurgents in occupied Kashmir.
Earlier this year, officials in the occupied part of the region, which has been wracked by an insurgency since 1989, had hailed what they described a significant drop in violence - with the daily average death toll dropping to around two. Militant infiltration usually rise as the Himalayan snow melts. The level of activity this year will be closely monitored as an indicator of the state of a slow moving India-Pakistan peace process launched in 2004.
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