ISLAMABAD (AFP) ― Cross-border firing reerupted in the disputed region of Kashmir Tuesday, wounding four children, as senior Pakistani and Indian military officials spoke by phone following more than a week of deadly skirmishes.



At least 20 civilians have been killed and thousands on both sides of the de facto border have fled their homes since Oct. 6.



Pakistan’s military said Tuesday it had voiced concern to India at continued firing across the disputed frontier in Kashmir and in Punjab province when senior officials from both sides spoke via a special hotline.



“Pakistan army’s director of military operations conveyed concern to (his) Indian counterpart and pointed toward India’s consistent unprovoked firing on civil population living along the Line of Control and the working boundary,” a senior military official said on condition of anonymity.



Hours later, Pakistani officials accused Indian troops of restarting fresh firing in Nakyal sector on the Line of Control, the disputed boundary between the two countries.



“Four children were wounded when shrapnel from a mortar shell struck their house late on Tuesday night,” local police official Shaukat Ali said.



“We have been facing problems in rescue operation due to darkness and rains in the area,” he said, adding that Indian firing was resuming after brief intervals.



An official of the Inter Services Public Relations, media wing of the Pakistan military confirmed the incident.



“Pakistani troops have responded effectively to Indian firing,” he said.



Meanwhile, a team of U.N. military observers visited villages affected by the border unrest near Pakistan’s eastern city of Sialkot on Monday and Tuesday, the country’s military said.



“A team of U.N. observers met the villagers, witnessed and gathered firsthand account of damage caused to human lives and property due to recent Indian hostility on the Working Boundary,” it said in a statement.



The observer group also visited a Siaklot hospital and met injured civilians.



With poignant irony, the surge in violence between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory, has coincided with the joint award of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Pakistani and an Indian.



Clashes occur regularly along the disputed border in Kashmir, known as the Line of Control, as well as along the frontier dividing Indian Kashmir from Pakistan’s Punjab province.



The latest shelling began over a week ago, and while its intensity has lessened since Friday Pakistani officials say firing has continued.



Islamabad said Friday that both countries shared a duty to defuse the situation, while India’s Foreign Ministry maintained that “deescalation is now entirely in Pakistan’s hands.”



Kashmir has been a sore point in India-Pakistan relations ever since independence from Britain in 1947, with each country controlling part of the scenic mountain territory but claiming all of it.



Fighting between Indian forces and rebels seeking independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan has killed tens of thousands ― mostly civilians ― since 1989.



There had been hopes of an early resumption in peace talks between the two countries, when India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing-in in June.



But India called off talks last month after Pakistan consulted with Indian Kashmiri separatists, in a move some saw as a sign of a tougher stance under India’s new right-wing government.



Pakistan’s Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai last week invited the Indian and Pakistani leaders to accompany her and fellow winner Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights activist, to the award ceremony.



But just hours later there was a fresh exchange of fire in Kashmir, and the offices of the two leaders both declined this week to say whether they would accept Malala’s overture.