Jammu, Oct 29 (IANS): Intermittent exchange of fire was continuing Saturday evening in Jammu and Kathua districts where Pakistani troopers had started heavy shelling targeting civilians and BSF posts on the International Border, police said.

Police said that at around 6 a.m., the Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy mortar shelling and automatic gunfire in Hiranagar (Kathua) and R.S.Pura (Jammu) in Jammu and Kashmir and the Border Security Force (BSF) had started retaliating effectively.

The shelling was continuing intermittently in both sectors but "nothing significant" was reported, police said.

On Friday, heavy shelling and firing exchanges took place in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and on the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar sector (Poonch) in Jammu region and Machil (Kupwara) sector in the Kashmir Valley.

A soldier was killed in Machil sector where the army foiled an infiltration bid. A militant was also killed in this operation.

The Army said the militants had mutilated the soldier's body before withdrawing into the Pakistan side of the LoC.