A 45-year-old woman was killed and nine others, including two children, were wounded in heavy shelling that continued across the Internernational Border between Indian Border Security forces and Pakistan Rangers in Samba and Kathua area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military, in a statement, has said India's “unprovoked firing” has killed a 13-year-old girl and wounded a child.
According to BSF sources, 13 border outposts on the Indian side were under Pakistani fire since last night.
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“The heavy firing started from the Pakistani side and we have also retailiated strongly to the firing,” DIG BSF and spokesperson said.
Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said they are evacuating civilians living along the border to prevent any further casualties.
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The latest round of firing by Pakistan which started on New Year eve has left two persons dead, including a BSF jawan, and nine injured while five Pakistan Rangers have been killed in retaliatory firing by India.
The fresh round of ceasefire violations started on the New Years eve when one BSF soldier and two Pakistani Rangers were killed in the firing. It comes barely two months after the last major escalation that left 13 people dead and displaced 32,000 border residents.
“Two persons were injured in Baingallar border hamlet in Samba and the firing exchanges are still going on,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Samba, Anil Magotra said.
According to Police, the injured have been shifted to hospital.
Friday’s ceasefire violation was the fourth by the Rangers in as many days and the eighth in the last nine days.
Pakistan made a written complaint to India over the killing of Rangers on the International border, accusing the BSF of “killing the soldiers in cold blood.” India denied the allegations as “baseless.”
The Army was directed to respond appropriately with double the force to ceasefire violations on the border.