Army soldier killed in Pak firing along LoC

An army soldier was killed when Pakistan troops resorted to heavy mortar shelling and firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

An official said that Pakistani troops resorted to ceasefire violation and fired with sniper upon the Indian army posts in Keri belt of Sunderbani sector along the LoC during wee hours of Thursday. “A soldier identified as Rifleman Yash Pal suffered serious injuries in the attack. He was immediately evacuated to military hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries,” he said.

Indian Army retaliated effectively, and firing stopped after some time, the official added.

Border skirmishes witnessed a spurt after India's pre-emptive air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26 following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.

On Monday night, an army soldier was killed, and four others were injured when the Pakistan army resorted to shelling with mortar bombs and firing of small arms along the LoC in Akhnoor and Sunderbani sectors.

Four civilians, including three members of a family, were killed and several others injured as Pakistan targeted dozens of villages in over 110 incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC in the state this year, especially in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri, since then.

The year 2018 witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations -- 2,936 -- by Pakistani troops in the last 15 years along the Indo-Pak border. Indian Army has been maintaining very high alert all along the LoC following inputs that under the cover of ceasefire violations, the Pakistani troops were trying to facilitate infiltration attempts by the militants.

“Pakistani troops have once again gathered militants close to the launch pads and were in search of an opportunity to facilitate their infiltration into the Indian territory. However, the troops haven’t allowed the Pakistani plot to succeed in view of high alertness on the LoC,” a senior army officer said.

There is 198 km IB and over 510 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.