United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged India and Pakistan on Wednesday to show restraint following clashes in the disputed region of Kashmir that have caused deaths on both sides.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged India and Pakistan on Wednesday to show restraint following clashes in the disputed region of Kashmir that have caused deaths on both sides.

"(Ban) expresses serious concern about the recent escalation of violence along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan, which reportedly resulted in a number of casualties on both sides, including civilians," the UN press office said in a statement.

Ban said an upcoming meeting of the countries' security chiefs on August 23-24 in New Delhi could help bolster dialogue between the two countries, which have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir.

On Sunday clashes between Indian and Pakistani troops along the border intensified killing at least eight people and wounding 14.

In the latest violence, a policeman and a civilian were killed Tuesday when suspected militants opened fire outside Tujjar Sharif, northwest of Srinagar in India-occupied Kashmir, police said.

Ban urged both India and Pakistan "to exercise maximum restraint and take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians."

In July, human-rights group Amnesty International released a report documenting several cases of human rights violations perpetrated by the Indian army in Kashmir.

The group noted that their research "has repeatedly uncovered patterns of impunity, including unlawful government orders to the police not to register complaints of human rights violations against the security forces".