But as so often in Kashmir, the events of recent weeks have been subject to the usual claims and counter-claims by India and Pakistan. Click here to see a map of the area. For six months of the year, heavy snow on the Line of Control makes the area uninhabitable. Even the Indian army pulls out from time to time when the weather is exceptionally severe.
Skirmishes happen regularly, mostly in the summer, when the snows melt in the high passes.
Until now, the clashes have tended to be short-lived, with the insurgents reluctant to engage the Indian forces in heavy fighting. Indian and Pakistan have fought three wars since they won independence from Britain in August 1947, two of them over Kashmir. The Line of Control itself was originally established in January 1949 as a ceasefire line, following the end of the first Kashmir war. In July 1972, after a second conflict, the LOC was re-established in the Simla Agreement, with minor variations. The Indian position India has some 30,000 troops in the area, including special forces and paratroopers.