Another soldier killed in Pak sniper fire in J&K

In a second such incident in 24-hours, an army soldier was killed in sniper fire by Pakistani troops in Naushera sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday evening.

An official said that a soldier, identified as Naik Gosavi Keshav Somgir, was critically injured in the firing from across the LoC and succumbed to gunshot wound injuries.

Somgir (29) belonged to Sri Rampur village of Nashik district in Maharashtra and is survived by his wife. The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively on Pakistan Army posts.

In a similar such incident, another army soldier was killed in cross-LoC sniper fire on Saturday in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri. Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were also wounded in a separate firing incident in Rajouri on Saturday.

The ceasefire violations and sniper attacks by Pakistani troops are on the rise this year. On October 21, three soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir light infantry regiment and two heavily-armed infiltrators believed to be members of the Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistan army, and terrorists were killed in Sunderbani sector.

On November 6, a soldier was injured when he was hit by a sniper from across the border at Kalal in Naushera sector of Rajouri, while a BSF jawan was injured in a separate incident of firing by Pakistan along the LoC in the Manjakote area of the Rajouri-Poonch sector on Friday.

According to Union Home Ministry figures, the first seven months of this year saw 52 deaths and 232 people getting injured in 1,435 ceasefire violations by Pakistan army in Jammu and Kashmir. There is 198 km International Border and over 510 km of LoC with Pakistan in the state.

Sources said Pakistani troops have positioned snipers at odd locations close to the forward posts to target Indian troopers proceeding on long patrols and forward locations. “Pak Army relies on their team of snipers to target Indian positions and in the last one year, several Indian troopers have lost their lives in sniper shots," they revealed.