Nowshera, November 21: An Indian soldier was killed and three others including two women injured as Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling and small arms fire on Saturday along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
An Army spokesperson Lt Colonel Devender Anand here said “an army havildar killed in action during ceasefire violation along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rjouri district. He identified the deceased as Havildar Patil Sangram Shivaji of Kolhapur.
Sources, however, that another army personnel was injured there and they identified him as Naik Sagar of Nagpur. Both the soldiers had got injured when Pakistani troops suddenly started firing mortar shells and small arms fire at forward locations in Nowshera’s Lam area around 1 am. The injured were evacuated to hospital, but Havildar Patil succumbed to injuries.
The Indian troops retaliated befittingly and the exchange of fire continued till 4 am. The Pakistani troops again initiated the ceasefire violation in Nowshera sector in the evening.
Meanwhile, two women were injured as Pakistani resorted to small arms fire and mortar shelling along the line of control in Degwar and Malti sectors of Poonch district in the evening. They have been identified as Sakina Bi (40) and Mansha Bi (18) of Bagial Dara in Poonch.
Ever since the abrogation of Article 370 last year, there have been spurt in incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along the borders and infiltration attempts by militants from Pakistan side into Jammu and Kashmir.
On Thursday last, Jammu Kashmir Police had killed four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants near Ban Toll Post along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Nagrota and seized from them huge quantity of arms and ammunition. The slain militants, who had reportedly crossed over from Pakistan only a few hours before getting intercepted by police at Ban Toll Plaza, were on way to Kashmir in a truck to disrupt the coming District Development Council elections in the Union Territory.
The first ever DDC elections in the UT are being held in eight phases beginning November 28.
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