India, Pakistan spar over ships days before talks

 India and Pakistan are bickering over the movements of their warships engaged in operations against Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Indian officials said Sunday that a Pakistani naval ship had jeopardized the safety of an Indian ship while escorting a cargo vessel that was released a few days ago by Somali pirates.

Pakistan had accused an Indian naval ship of a similar violation a day earlier.

The spat comes days before Indian and Pakistani officials are to meet in Islamabad for talks on their dispute over Kashmir and the threats posed by terrorism. They would be the first formal talks on Kashmir between the South Asian rivals since India broke off peace negotiations in 2008 after terrorist attacks in Mumbai killed 166 people.

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