(CNN) -- Three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed this week in a cross-border firefight between Pakistan and India, officials said Thursday.
The soldiers were moving from one post to another along the border when they came under fire by Indian forces, said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, Pakistan army spokesman.
Since a cease-fire is in effect, the firing by Indian forces was unprovoked, Abbas said. But Pakistani forces retaliated after the shots were fired, he said.
It was unclear whether the incident took place late Tuesday or Wednesday, as Pakistani and Indian officials provided different times.
Lt. Col. J.S. Brar, Indian defense spokesman for the disputed Kashmir region, said there were two violations of the cease-fire on the Line of Control, the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In the first, fighting continued for about an hour, he said. A second violation took place Thursday morning, he said, and one Indian soldier was injured. Brar said he could not comment on Pakistani casualties.
Pakistani officials said severe weather conditions in Kashmir, a Himalayan region, hampered removal of the soldiers' bodies. Pakistan has asked the Indian local commanding authority for a full report on the incident.
India and Pakistan have have fought three wars since the partition of the Asian subcontinent in 1947. Two of them were over Kashmir, which is claimed by both nuclear powers.
On August 20, an Indian army officer and five militants were killed in clashes along the Line of Control. India has accused Pakistan of aiding infiltration into Indian Kashmir, which has battled separatist violence for more than two decades. Islamabad has denied the accusations. More than 40,000 have died in the violence, officials say.
CNN's Sumnima Das and Mukhtar Ahmed and journalist Shaan Khan contributed to this report.
