NEW DELHI – India accused Pakistan on Friday of violating the ceasefire along the international border between the two countries, killing four civilians and a member of the Border Security Force.

Saurabh Parashar, a local police spokesperson, told EFE that, in addition to the five casualties, at least 13 civilians were wounded in gunshots from the Pakistani side.

The officer added that the alleged ceasefire violations had begun early in the morning on Friday, and that Indian security units had responded with “full force” in clashes that lasted throughout the day.

The wounded and some residents of the border area have been evacuated as, in addition to gunshots, artillery fire also came from the other side of the border.

Earlier on Friday, the Pakistani government had accused India of killing four members of the same family (a woman and her three children), and summoned the Indian ambassador in Islamabad to lodge their protest, alleging that India had violated the ceasefire – in effect since 2003 – on 1,050 occasions this year.

The exchanges of fire between the two countries have intensified in the last two years across the Line of Control – the de-facto border – as relations have worsened between the two countries.

The deterioration in ties has coincided with increasing protests and insurgent activity in India-administered Kashmir since 2016, which New Delhi blames on Islamabad.

According to Pakistan, India violated the ceasefire 1,970 times in 2017, killing 52 people, while Delhi has accused Islamabad of carrying out 860 attacks which killed 35 people and wounded 151.

Both Pakistan and India have claimed Kashmir since the partition of the subcontinent and independence from British rule in 1947, waging two wars and numerous minor conflicts over the region.