As the Army paid tributes to the soldier, whose body was mutilated by infiltrators near the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir, it pledged to respond to Pakistani violation and aggression “effectively and military-like”.
Meanwhile, one more BSF jawan was killed in cross-border firing and shelling.
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Describing deceased sepoy Mandeep Singh a “national hero”, Chinar Corps General Officer Commanding Lt. Gen. Satish Dua and all ranks paid “tributes to the hero on behalf of a proud nation”.
The mortal remains of the soldier were flown from Srinagar to his home in Kurukshetra, Haryana.
Son of a truck driver, deceased Singh, 26, joined the Army in 2009. He is survived by his wife, serving in Haryana Police, who he had married in 2014.
In another casualty near the LoC in north Kashmir, a BSF jawan, identified as Constable Koli Nitin Subhash, a resident of Sangli, Maharashtra, was hit by Pakistani fire in Macchil Sector, the same sector where sepoy Singh engaged a group of infiltrators on Friday evening. He succumbed to his injuries in the morning.
Deceased Subhash had joined the BSF in 2008 and is survived by his wife and two sons, aged four and two.
Four BSF jawans and two Army soldiers have died in fresh escalation by Pakistani troops to push militants and target installations on the International Border and the LoC since October 21, 2016. The escalation was sparked after the BSF repulsed an infiltration bid in Jammu and retaliated to a cross-border sniper attack on a BSF jawan.
“While the Pakistani Army has been violating the ceasefire over the last few days, even to abet infiltrating terrorists in such despicable acts as witnessed On Friday in Macchil Sector of Kupwara, the Indian Army's response has been firm, intense but military-like,” said a Srinagar-based spokesman.
Meanwhile, in Jammu, heavy shelling targeting military installations was reported on Saturday morning in Hiranagar and R.S. Pura Sectors.
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