ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 Indian forces opened 'unprovoked' fire on Pakistani positions along the border near Sialkot on Sunday night, triggering an exchange of fire, Pakistan said on Monday.

Indian troops using automatic weapons opened unprovoked fire on Pakistani positions, Rangers spokesman Nadeem Raza said, adding “our soldiers strongly retaliated and forced them to stop firing”.

“We have decided to forcefully respond if they resort to firing again.”

A spokesman for the Indian border guards told Reuters the exchange was provoked by a militant attack.

“A group of terrorists, attempting to infiltrate, fired at Border Security Force personnel. Our troops fired in retaliation to stop the infiltrators,” Vinod Sharma said. “The exchange of fire continued for some time.”

An Indian police official claimed that the latest infiltration bid was the 11th in the past 16 days. Last week, Indian officials said one of their soldiers was killed in firing across the Line of Control. Two days earlier, the two countries traded accusations of firing across their border.