An Indian soldier was killed when Pakistani troops fired artillery shells across a military control line that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, Indian police said Tuesday. Cross-border firing between the two South Asian rivals, stepped up last month, has lessened following an easing of tensions after intense international diplomatic efforts led by the United States. (Read photo caption)

The two nuclear-armed neighbors nearly went to war in June over Indian complaints that Muslim guerrillas were infiltrating into Indian Kashmir from Pakistan to fight security forces in the Muslim-majority region.
"Last evening a soldier, Ranjit Kumar, died when artillery shells fired by Pakistani troops exploded in the Kargil area," a police official said.

He said the Indian army retaliated and the artillery duel continued till Tuesday morning. Kargil district lies 135 miles northeast of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian and Pakistani armies routinely exchange fire across the Line of Control or cease-fire line that divides Kashmir between them.

Meanwhile two armed Kashmiri nationalists were killed and four wounded in fresh gunbattles in the Kashmir region, police said.

PHOTO CAPTION

India's Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said July 8, 2002 that Washington needs to put more pressure on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to stop what it calls support to Muslim militant groups fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region. Musharraf is seen after taking an official oath for the office of Pakistan's new president in this June 20, 2001 file photo. Photo by Reuters
- Jul 08 12:10 PM ET