India and Pakistan exchanged mortar and heavy machine gun fire across their disputed border in Kashmir this morning and Indian officials said hundreds of scared civilians had started leaving their homes in the area.
Two Indian army soldiers were killed and two people, including a woman, were wounded in the exchanges late on Monday in the Samba sector of the northern state, officials said.
Tensions between the South Asian nuclear rivals have surged following a December 13th suicide attack on India's parliament.
India, which blamed the attack on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist groups, has recalled its ambassador to Islamabad and on Monday ordered the expulsion of a Pakistani diplomat.
Indian High Commissioner Vijay K. Nambiar left Islamabad on Tuesday and was escorted to the airport by Pakistani Foreign Secretary Inam-ul-Haq, the foreign ministry's top bureaucrat.
Indian defense officials said firing was continuing in Samba and Hiranagar sectors of Jammu region on Tuesday. In anti-insurgency operations, Indian troops shot dead five militants in overnight gun battles in Jammu and Kashmir state.
"In the continuing relentless operations launched by the security forces in the valley, five terrorists including a battalion commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed in north Kashmir," an army statement said.