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7 Pakistan Rangers killed in BSF's retaliatory fire along IB in J&K's Kathua

Each side has accused the other of initiating firing in violation of the November 2003 ceasefire agreement.

SRINAGAR: The Border Security Force (BSF) said on Friday that it killed seven troopers from Pakistan Rangers and a militant in retaliatory fire along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.

The stretch of the 198-km long IB (called ‘working boundary’ by Islamabad) through Hiranagar sector of Kathua district has witnessed active hostilities breaking out at intervals between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers for the past over one week. Each side has accused the other of initiating firing in violation of the November 2003 ceasefire agreement.

The BSF officials said that the Pakistan Rangers opened small arms, RPG and mortar fire on the Indian posts in the Hiranagar sector on Friday morning, following which it retaliated using the same calibre weapons. One BSF jawan was critically injured in the Pakistani firing, they added.

Pakistani Rangers, sources said, had violated the ceasefire at two different locations on Friday which was retaliated by the BSF and the Army. The first was reported around 9.30 am in Hiranagar sector in which the BSF constable Gurnam Singh was critically injured in a sniper attack while the second violation took place at 12.40 pm in Rajouri region, the sources said. They added that Gurnam Singh has been rushed to a hospital in Jammu suffering severe bullet injuries.

They also said that following sniper attack in Hiranagar sector the Pakistan Rangers used heavy mortar shells while in Rajouri it was more of firing with small automatic weapons. At Hiranagar the BSF too retaliated with heavy firing which resulted in the casualty of 7 Pakistan Rangers and one militant who was planning to infiltrate across the border.

Following the incidents, the Home Ministry has put the BSF and Army on high alert along the IB and Line of Control (LoC), reports emanating from Delhi said. The reports also said that the Pakistan army has mobilised heavy artillery and even tanks on their side of the border.

Earlier during the day on Friday, a spokesman of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed that the facing troops exchanged fire in two separate incidents but said that no loss of life or property has been reported on the Pakistani side.

The spokesman said that the exchanges took place in Punjab's Shakargarh area (facing Kathua) and across the LoC in the Karela sector. He claimed that the Pakistani troops "befittingly" responded to the "unprovoked" firing by the Indians. The ISPR also said that the first incident of cross-border firing in Shakargarh was reported at 9 am and continued for half an hour, whereas the second incident was reported later in the day. A civilian was killed and 12 others injured in alleged Indian firing across the LoC on Wednesday following which Islamabad had summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner, JP Singh, to lodge a protest.

The BSF officials had on Thursday said that it foiled a major infiltration bid from across the IB after killing one of the six militants in Kathua’s Bobiya area (Hiranagar sector). The others were forced to retreat. IG BSF, Jammu Frontiers, DK Upadhyaya, said the infiltrating militants were giving firing cover by the Pakistan Rangers who also used Rocket-Projectile-Guns (RPGs) as is done in the ‘forced infiltration’ which is also referred to as ‘fire and sneak-in’. “But the BSF jawans who were on high alert immediately comprehended the infiltrators’ strategy and gave them befitting response by resorting to a heavy volume of firing,” he said.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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