On a day when Indian troops were preparing to celebrate Independence Day, the Pakistan Army allegedly targeted their forward posts along the Line of Control in Poonch again, injuring three Army jawans and a civilian. Officials said this was the 11th violation of the 2003 ceasefire in the past five days.
Reports from Poonch said Indian troops had responded with “massive” mortar and heavy-calibre weapons fire targeting Pakistani forward posts, and the exchange of fire was continuing till late Thursday evening.
Terming the Pakistani firing as “unprovoked and indiscriminate”, the officials said rockets and mortars, besides small arms and machineguns, were used in the attack. “Pakistani troops opened fire along the LoC on several Indian forward posts in Balakote belt of Poonch district from 6.30 am. They fired automatic weapons, rockets and mortar shells, in which three of our jawans received minor injuries,” defence spokesperson S.N. Acharya said in Jammu. He added an 82-mm mortar shell fired by Pakistani troops fell in Sanjote forward area of Mendhar tehsil, injuring a civilian, Parvaiz Ahmed, who was quickly shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu.