ISLAMABAD - Pakistan accused the Indian army on Friday for the second day running of "unprovoked heavy firing" across a military control line in disputed Kashmir, which killed a woman and wounded three other civilians.

A military statement said the Indians used medium and field artillery, heavy mortars, heavy machine guns and small arms in Thursday's attacks in Lipa Valley and the Aliabad sector that "resulted in casualties to innocent civilians".

"The Pakistan army retaliated by targeting the Indian army posts, forcing them to stop firing on innocent civilians," it said.

On Thursday, Islamabad accused the Indian army of launching similar attacks in Neelum Valley and Aliabad sectors the day before, saying those attacks killed a woman and wounded at least 10 other civilians on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, which stands between the armies of the two nuclear rivals.

But an Indian army spokesman in Srinagar, summer capital of the Indian-ruled part of the Himalayan region, blamed Pakistani soldiers for starting that artillery duel.

Police said on Friday three children were killed in Indian Kashmir and six adults wounded in Thursday's incident.

Both countries often accuse each other of cross-border firing in Kashmir, over which they have fought two of their three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.

But tensions have risen in recent weeks with the two sides accusing each other of moving troops closer to the border.

India rules about 45 percent and Pakistan a little more than a third of the Himalayan region, the remainder of which is held by China.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of sponsoring a 12-year-old separatist Muslim revolt in Indian-ruled Kashmir. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only gives moral and political support to Kashmiri "freedom fighters". Nampa-Reuters