(Photo: Agencies)

Islamabad (People’s Daily) – At least four civilians have died and 11 others were injured in shelling by the Indian military in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, local media reported.

“Intense and indiscriminate” machine-gun, mortar and artillery fire by Indian forces began around 5:30 pm in several parts of the region without any provocation, the Dawn News reported.

The incident came hours after Indian military aircraft had flown across the Line of Control in Kashmir in the early morning hours, triggering widespread reaction in Pakistan.

According to a media release from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, eight Indian aircraft were intercepted by Pakistani Air Force jets at around 3 am Tuesday.

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told a press conference later in the afternoon that the Indian warplanes released their ordnances when forced to scuttle back, but they landed in an uninhabited remote area and there were no casualties.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call on Tuesday that India is jeopardizing regional peace and stability in pursuit of its own political agenda and that he hoped the US would play its part in defusing the situation, the Dawn News reported.