India accuses Pakistan of killing 5

India's army says five of its soldiers were killed and another wounded when Pakistani troops fired at a patrol near the cease-fire line in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir Tuesday. The incident could threaten recent overtures aimed at resuming peace talks between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The military called the attack a "gross violation" of a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Lt. Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman, said about 20 "heavily armed terrorists along with soldiers" of the Pakistan army ambushed an Indian army patrol in the Poonch sector, 110 miles southwest of Srinagar, the main city in the Himalayan region.

Kalia said Pakistan had violated the cease-fire 57 times this year, which he said was nearly twice as often compared with last year.

In response to the accusations, Pakistan's military is denying any involvement in such an attack and are going as far as saying that no such incident has taken place.

According to the Associated Press, a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan was committed to the cease-fire agreement of 2003, adding that "such ill-founded reports" that have the potential of harming relations should be avoided.

The statement said Pakistan "looks forward to an early resumption of the dialogue process" with India.

Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been indicating he is open to restarting peace talks.

While the cease-fire has largely held for the last decade, such sporadic violations are not uncommon. Each accuses the other of initiating the fighting by firing mortars or gunshots across the line of control.

If Pakistani involvement in the latest deaths is proven, it would be a serious setback to any fresh peace negotiations because not only does it violate the 2003 ceasefire agreement, but it would be seen as an incursion into Indian territory.

The incident puts any future talks, proposed by Pakistan's newly elected government, into doubt, creating an extremely difficult situation for Sharif, who has been very keen to restart peace talks with India as part of his overall strategy to help revive Pakistan's ailing economy.

India and Pakistan have fought three major wars since they achieved independence from British India in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, which is claimed in its entirety by both.

While they remain rivals, relations between them have improved dramatically since the most recent low point in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai siege, in which 10 Pakistani gunmen killed 166 people and forced a shut down of the city for days. The Indian government says the terrorists had ties to Pakistani intelligence officials — an accusation Islamabad denies.

Signs of their improving ties include new visa rules announced last December designed to make cross-border travel easier. The countries have also taken steps to improve trade relations.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press