NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Foreign diplomats today toured the frontier regions of Kashmir where Indian and Pakistani troops fought a seven-day artillery duaL the Press Trust of India said, reports AFP.

Military attaches from 25 countries and regions including Britain, the United States, the Gulf. Eastern Europe and Africa toured the troubled regions of Raiouri and Poonch where the fighting had been Intense.

The guns fell silent Thursday morning at most places across the 1,300 kms (800-mlle) line of control, a de facto border which divides the Indian and Pakistani zones of divided Kashmir.

The officials were also briefed by Indian commanders at a military post called Na-grota. 12 kms (eight miles) from the Kashmiri winter capital of Jammu, a defence ministry

spokesman said.

India says more than 50 people have died since the firing began on Thursday last week, while Pakistan has reported 75 deaths. Scores have been Injured in both sides of the border.

India and Pakistan have blamed each other for precipitating the artillery exchanges, which began last week as the prime ministers of the two sides met for fruitless talks.

Another AFP report from Srinagar adds: Five Indian civilians were killed today in Kashmir as Pakistan resumed cross-border artillery attacks after a brief lull. Indian officials here said.

Four of the victims died in the frontier region of Kargil. some 240 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of Srinagar, when their truck was destroyed

by a Pakistani shell.

The other was killed in the northern district of Poonch. one of the sites of an artillery duel between Indian and Pakistani troops over the past eight days which has left around 125 dead.

Officials here said that except for the mountainous region of Kargil. the shelling had subsided at most places in the Indian zone of the divided Himalayan territory.

'A stretch of six kilometres (four miles) Is under direct (Pakistani) fire, which is delaying our military convoys." an Indian army official told AFP from Kargil.

Indian officials in Uri. one of the worst-hit areas In northern Kashmir, say hundreds of houses, crops and fruit orchards had been damaged.