PTI, JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed today in retaliatory firing by the Indian Army after a ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir where a infiltration bid was also foiled with the elimination of five militants of Pakistan-based JeM, army officers said. The army action came on a day when its chief Gen Bipin Rawat sent a stern messsage to Pakistan, saying it may escalate its offensive against terror groups and carry out the ‘other action’ if forced by the neighbouring country.
In his address to army personnel in Delhi to mark the Army Day today, the Army chief said Pakistan Army is continuously trying to help terrorists sneak into India along the Line of Control (LoC) in J and K. “Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the LoC and resorted to shelling on forward posts in Jaglote belt in Mendhar sector(in Poonch district) early today,” a senior Army officer told PTI in Jammu. Indian troops guarding the LoC took positions and targeted the Pakistani post involved in the ceasefire violation in Kotli by retaliatory action of heavy shelling, he said.
In the retaliation, seven Pakistani soldiers were killed and four other soldiers injured, the officer said, adding the dead included a Major. The retaliation also comes after an Indian soldier was killed in Pakistan firing along the LoC in J and K’s Rajouri district last Saturday.
The Pakistan Army, however, said it lost four of its soldiers in a cross-border firing by India across the LoC and claimed to have killed three Indian troops. The army personnel were fired upon and hit by heavy mortar rounds while carrying out “line communication maintenance” along the LoC in Kotli sector’s Jandrot area, the army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement in Islamabad.
