Army vows revenge after terrorists kill soldier near LoC, mutilate his body
Srinagar: An army jawan, identified as Mandeep Singh was on Friday killed in an encounter with terrorists who later mutilated his body near the Line of Control (LoC) in Macchil sector of Kupwara district of Kashmir.
One militant was also killed in the gunbattle, army said here on Friday night. “In an encounter close to the Line of Control on Friday evening, one soldier was martyred and one terrorist was killed.
“The terrorists mutilated the body of the jawan before fleeing back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistan Army,” an army spokesman said.
He said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan. “The incident will be responded to appropriately,” he added.
Earlier, as many as 15 Pakistani border guards and soldiers were killed in Indian troops’ retaliatory fire along the International Border and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir during past one week, officials said.
However, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations dismissed the claim. The Pakistan Rangers and regular army violated the ceasefire at several places along the IB and the LoC by resorting to heavy small arms and mortar fire to target the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army forward posts and civilian areas, officials in Jammu said.
A woman resident 50-year-old Asma Begum and a boy Ajay were killed in Pakistani firing along the LoC in Mendhar area of Poonch district and in Chamb sector of Jammu district, respectively, J&K’s deputy chief minister, Nirmal Singh said.
Several border residents injured in the firing and shelling from across the IB and LoC were shifted to Jammu’s government-run medical college hospital. The BSF’s additional director general, Arun Kumar, said that 13 Pakistan Rangers and two Pakistani Frontier Force soldiers were killed in Indian retaliation since October 21. The assessment by the BSF is based on calls monitored by Indian agencies. The intercepted calls were made from hospitals asking for help to treat the injured.
The latest skirmishes have taken place in Rajouri, Samba, Abdullian, RS Pura and Suchetgarh sectors and sub-sectors of the LoC and the International Border, the officials said. They also said that heavy mortar shells from Pakistan began around 5 am along the LoC’s Noushehra, Sundarbani and Pallanwala areas.
