Srinagar, India, Jan. 1 (Reuters): The Border Security Force killed four Pakistani interior-ministry troops on New Year's Eve, ending a year in which clashes between the two countries escalated and hopes for reconciliation faded.

Wednesday's incident, on the international border in Jammu & Kashmir, followed the killing earlier in the day of a BSF soldier, a senior BSF officer said.

”We have retaliated effectively ... four Pakistani Rangers have been killed along the International Border in Samba sector,” Rakesh Sharma, BSF inspector general for the Jammu Frontier.

“As Pakistani rangers suffered casualties, they waved white flags, asking BSF to stop the firing so that they can lift the bodies of the dead men. We stopped the firing after their request,” Sharma said.

Frontier clashes have intensified in recent months.

Most of the clashes have happened further north in the mainly Muslim Kashmir Valley, where separatist militants killed 11 Indian soldiers and police in early December, the worst losses in six years.

Jammu & Kashmir held state elections in December in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party made gains. While leaving the party short of a majority, the result could open the way for it to form a ruling coalition with a regional party.