India and Pakistan exchanged more gun and mortar fire in the disputed Kashmir region on Thursday, injuring five civilians, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted an end could be in sight for the worst cross-border violence in a decade.
A total of nine Pakistani and eight Indian civilians have been killed since fighting erupted more than week ago along a 200-km (125-mile) stretch of border in the mostly Muslim region. Both countries claim all of Kashmir's Himalayan mountains and fertile valleys, a major focus of tension in South Asia.
"Everything will be fine soon," Modi told reporters after a meeting with the country's air chief late on Wednesday. The terse sentence is all Modi has so far said publicly about the skirmishes between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Each side accuses the other of targeting civilians and unprovoked violations of a border truce that has largely held since 2003.
Almost 20,000 Indian civilians have fled their homes in the lowlands around the Jammu region to escape the fighting, taking refuge in schools and relief camps.
Indian forces retaliated to gunfire and mortar shells on about 50 border security posts overnight, a senior Indian border security official said. The firing was still going on intermittently in some areas on Thursday morning, the official said.
While exchanges of sporadic fire are common along the de facto border dividing the region, the wide spread of the fighting, the intensity of the shelling and number of civilian deaths is unusual. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since they became independent in 1947.
India held a meeting on Wednesday of its top security officials to discuss how to handle the conflict. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called a similar meeting on Friday.
Despite Modi's suggestion of a quick resolution, there have been few moves to lower tensions.
Since heavy fighting broke out four days ago there has only been one phone call between the two militaries. The usual way of de-escalating clashes is to call a meeting of senior officials at the border, but no such meeting has been held this time.
One senior Indian army officer in Kashmir said the ongoing violence suits both nations with Pakistan's army taking a more assertive role in politics and India's new nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising a more muscular foreign policy.
The officer declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"You need a strict discipline to be imposed by both sides and that only happens if there is a commitment from the leadership to do that," said Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant general in the Pakistan army. "It seems right now there is a lack of commitment on both sides to rein it."
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