Srinagar, India: Indian authorities on Tuesday said seven civilians had been killed after Pakistani mortar shells hit two areas in the disputed Kashmir region, as tensions soar between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Two children and three adults were killed in the shelling near the city of Jammu in the Samba sector across the border with Pakistan’s Punjab province, a top civil official, Pawan Kotwal, told AFP.

Two women were also killed in the mountainous Rajouri district along the line of control (LoC), the de facto border in the disputed territory, Kotwal said in a text message.

Nine more people were injured in the cross-border firing, officials said, referring to the shelling which began in the early hours of Tuesday.

India and Pakistan’s armies have regularly exchanged fire across the LoC as well as along their undisputed part of the border since a militant attack on an Indian army base on September 18 that left 19 soldiers dead.

Both countries accuse each other of violating the ceasefire and engaging in ‘unprovoked firing’.

Eight Indian troops have also died in the border skirmishes since September.

Pakistan on Monday said Indian troops killed four civilians on its side of the border in Punjab province.

Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months since the attack on the Indian army base, the deadliest in more than a decade. India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack.

India said it responded by carrying out strikes across the heavily-militarised border, although Islamabad denies these took place.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

Several rebel groups have fought for decades an estimated 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the Himalayan territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan.