BORDER ATTACK: India condemns ‘mutilation’ of its soldiers in Kashmir

Supporters of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) shout slogans during a protest against Pakistan in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. India summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi on Wednesday to formally complain about an attack on an Indian army patrol in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed two soldiers and left their bodies mutilated. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

By Rob Crilly in Islamabad

London Daily Telegraph

India accused Pakistan of the “barbaric and inhuman” mutilation of two soldiers killed in a Kashmiri border attack as the crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours intensified Wednesday.

Indian officials summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Delhi for a dressing down as grisly details of the attack on Tuesday were confirmed by an army spokesman.

“We can confirm that one of the Indian soldiers was beheaded by the Pakistani army in Kashmir,” the spokesman J. Dahiyasaid said, adding that the head had apparently been carried away.

Kashmir has been at the centre of Pakistan and India’s difficult relationship since independence. The dispute has provoked two full-scale wars and countless skirmishes.

The latest flare-up was ignited at the weekend when Pakistan claimed that Indian troops crossed the line of control, attacking a military posts.

The two Indian soldiers died after a firefight in what appears to be a reciprocal attack.

India’s ministry of external affairs said in a statement: “Two Indian soldiers were killed in the attack and their bodies subjected to barbaric and inhuman mutilation.”

The claims were denied by Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs, which called for the United Nations to investigate.

In Pakistan, extremists are already threatening a fresh jihad. Wali-ur-Rehman, a senior Pakistan Taliban commander, released a video recording saying he was prepared to send fighters to Kashmir.

The Daily Telegraph

Indian army soldiers patrol near the line of control, the line that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, after reported cease-fire violation, in Mendhar, about 110 miles (175 kilometers) from Srinagar, India, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. An Indian army official says Pakistani soldiers crossed the cease-fire line in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and attacked an Indian army patrol, killing two Indian soldiers. While the two nations remain rivals, relations between them have improved dramatically since the 2008 Mumbai siege, in which 10 Pakistani gunmen killed 166 people and effectively shut down the city for days. (AP Photo/Channi Anand

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