Hundreds of villagers have fled their homes in the remote Kashmir region as Indian and Pakistani forces kept up Tuesday their cross-border firing that has left nine people dead so far, officials said.

Hundreds of villagers have fled their homes in the remote Kashmir region as Indian and Pakistani forces kept up Tuesday their cross-border firing that has left nine people dead so far, officials said.

Firing across the border in recent days has stoked tensions and left nine people dead on Monday alone, the highest civilian toll in a single day in more than a decade in the troubled region.    

Overnight, forces again traded heavy mortar fire, leaving seven people injured on the Indian Kashmir side, as villagers fled to shelters to escape the firing, a top local official said.

"We had 1500 people in safe shelters during the night away from their homes along the border," said Shantmanu, a top administrator of the Indian Kashmir region, who uses only one name.

"It is a voluntary thing. Otherwise the entire border population is vulnerable," he told AFP, adding that villagers were returning to check on their homes in the morning.

India and Pakistan have accused each other of provoking the firing that began Sunday night and fanned tensions between the nuclear-armed nations that have fought two wars over the Muslim-majority region.

Pakistnai officials Tuesday said Islamabad had lodged a strong protest with United Nations Military Observers Group for what it said was "unprovoked firing" by Indian troops.