By BINOO JOSHI, Associated Press Writer
JAMMU, India (AP) - The Indian army fired mortar shells and rockets at Pakistani positions across the cease-fire line in Kashmir on Monday and said it had caused ``widespread damage and destruction.''
India said the attacks were launched to punish Pakistan for aiding Islamic militants in the disputed province.
It was the heaviest fighting in 10 months along the volatile border. India's Defense Ministry said 12 guerrillas were killed in the fighting, while an army statement said 11 had died. Pakistan, in turn, said that Indian shelling had killed a woman and injured 25 other civilians. Claims by the two sides could not immediately be reconciled.
The clashes took place while U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Pakistan. He was scheduled to be in India Tuesday during his mission to the subcontinent, aimed in part at easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors. They have fought two wars over the divided Himalayan province in the past 50 years.
India's government is worried Washington overlooks its allegations that Pakistan supports terrorism. Islamabad says it offers the insurgents only moral aid in their 12-year fight to separate Kashmir from India.
Washington, however, has praised Pakistan for its help in the campaign to force Afghanistan to turn over Osama bin Laden ), accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, and relations between the countries have improved.
In Washington, President Bush sites) said he was looking into the reports of fighting.
``I think it is very important that India and Pakistan stand down during our activities in Afghanistan, for that matter forever,'' Bush said.
Powell's mission was ``to talk to both sides about making sure that if there are tensions - and obviously there are - that they be reduced,'' Bush said.
In Monday's operation, Indian forces used artillery, rockets, mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns after Pakistani soldiers sneaked into Indian territory in Akhnoor and damaged three power transformers, Indian Brig. P.C. Das said.
A statement from the Army Media Center said the Indian fire was partly in response to that attack.
``The Indian army today launched successful, punitive operations against (the) Pakistani army's repeated involvement in abetting terrorist activities,'' the statement said.
The fighting was the most intense this year, and the first large-scale shooting across the frontier since mid-July, when both armies exchanged fire during the three-day summit between Indian and Pakistani leaders. The summit ended in a deadlock over how to solve the half-century dispute over the divided Himalayan province.