Two soldiers killed as Pak violates ceasefire along LoC

'Army personnel were hit by sniper fire from Pakistan side'

At least two army men were killed as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday.

Sources said the army personnel from Jammu and Kashmir Rifles were hit by sniper fire from Pakistan side near Furkian Gali in Keran sector, 120 km from here this afternoon. “Today at around 2.20 pm, two army personnel deployed at a forward location at LoC sustained injuries due to sniper fire from Pakistan. Both the injured soldiers succumbed while being evacuated to the hospital," they said.

Furkiya area has been a known route used by militants infiltrating into the Kashmir Valley from Pakistan. Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia confirmed to DH that two soldiers were killed in the incident. The slain soldiers were identified as Lance Naik L N Ranjit Singh and Rifleman Satish Bhagat.

The incident comes two days after the deadly attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag where seven Amarnath pilgrims were killed, and 19 others injured in a militant attack. On Sunday the Pakistan army had targeted villages and forward posts along the LoC in Poonch district by resorting to heavy mortar shelling and firing automatic weapons. Officials said in June only 23 ceasefire violations, one BAT attack and two infiltration bids have been reported in which four people including three soldiers were killed and 12 others injured.

On June 22, Pakistani soldiers had carried out an attack 600 metres inside Indian territory along the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch killing two Indian soldiers. Earlier on May 1, Pakistani Border Action Teams (BAT had crossed into the Indian territory near LoC in Krishan Ghati under the cover of heavy shelling and beheaded two Indian soldiers.

There have been hundreds of violations of the 2003 ceasefire agreement by the Pakistan along the LoC and the International Border in J&K since Indian army carried surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29 last year.