A day after three jawans were killed and a soldier’s body was mutilated by terrorists in Machhal sector on the Line of Control (LoC), the Army launched a massive fire assault on Pakistani posts on Wednesday morning.
“A fire assault was launched at 9 a.m. on the Pakistani posts in the Kel sector and downwards,” a senior officer told The Hindu .
The three soldiers of a counter-infiltration patrol party were ambushed and killed by terrorists in Machhal sector who had infiltrated along the LoC on Tuesday. One of the soldier’s body was mutilated by the terrorists who escaped with cover fire by the Pakistan Army.
Following the incident, Army’s Northern Command had warned in a tweet that “retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act.”
Pak. claims casualties
As the attack unfolded, Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations claimed that Indian troops targeted a civil bus near the Neelam valley close to the LoC in which four were killed while seven were injured.
"Civil bus has been targeted near Dhudnial," ISPR said.
Adding to that, media reports in Pakistani stated that there were more casualties due to shelling by India.
Dawn reported 10 killed and four injured. These charges were quickly denied by Indian Army sources who said they "specifically targeted" Pakistan Army posts.
Similar events
A similar cycle of events unfolded in the same sector last month. On October 29, Sepoy Mandeep Singh was killed in Machhal sector and his body was mutilated by a terrorist, who fled across the LoC after the act.
The Army had warned that the “despicable act” would invite an “appropriate response” and the next day claimed to have destroyed four Pakistani posts in Keran sector along the LoC and “inflicted heavy casualties” in a massive fire assault.
