A villager was injured as Pakistani Army violated the ceasefire four times overnight by pounding civilian hamlets and posts with 120 mm and 82 mm mortar bombs along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Poonch districts, drawing retaliation from the Army and BSF.
This is the 10th consecutive day that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire. There have been 45 violations of the 2003 ceasefire accord in August and over 240 ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pak border this year.
“There was unprovoked firing of small arms and mortar bombs by Pakistan Rangers from 22:00 hours last night on five Border Out Posts (BoPs) along the International Border (IB) in Arnia and R.S. Pura sectors intermittently”, BSF Spokesman said today.
The firing continued during the night in Arnia and R.S. Pura Sector intermittently, he said, adding that five BSF outposts in the area were targeted. “Earlier, the fire was with smalls arms. Later on 82 mortar bombs were also fired by the Rangers. When left with no option, BSF troops retaliated the fire befittingly”, the spokesman said.
“The firing and shelling continued till 05:00 hours this morning. No loss of men and material has been reported so far from BSF,” he said.
However, a civilian identified as 38-year-old Subhash Chander, sustained a bullet injury on his foot at Sai Khurdin in Arnia sector. He is being treated at Government Sub-District Hospital in R.S. Pura, he said.
PRO, Defence, Jammu, Col. Manish Mehta said on Tuesday that, “Pakistan troops resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violations in Poonch sector and Balakote overnight and shelled forward posts and civilian areas with 120 mm and 82 mm mortar bombs. There was unprovoked violations by Pak army in Poonch sector using 82mm mortars from 0045 hours to 0330 hours today and the CFV which commenced in Balakot sector last evening at 1900 hours continued till midnight using 120 mm mortar bombs.”
“We retaliated at both places effectively. No casualty to our troops till last reports came in”, he said.
