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| Fierce gun battle on LoC | | Ultra, solider killed; operation still on | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
POONCH, Sept 21: At least one soldier of Indian Army and one heavily armed militant is reported to have been killed so far as fierce gun battle is still raging on the Line of Control in Poonch sector where militants tried to make a fresh infiltration bid this morning.
Sources said that the Pakistani soldiers fired at the LoC post Tarkundi in Poonch at around 11 AM this morning leading to exchange of fire between both sides. It is reported to be a clear violation of the Ceasefire as the Pakistani forces allowed incursion of militants under the fire cover.
According to army officials," a group of armed militants entered the Indian Territory from Kabaristan post of Pakistan and were trapped by troops close to Kalash Indian Post between Zero line and the border fencing along LoC in Poonch. He said the army engaged militants and killed one of them. One soldier was also killed in the encounter. Earlier, Indian forward posts in Poonch also came under heavy fire from across the line of control on Saturday. No one was injured in the firing incident.
Earlier the Pakistan troops violated ceasefire and opened small arms firing on Indian posts along the LoC in Tarkundi forward areas in Poonch district from 1100 hours to 1600 hours on Saturday," a senior Army officer said.
"After the November 2003 ceasefire came into force, this is the first major violation of the truce," he said.
Pakistani troops also targeted Indian posts on Saturday night and there was intermittent firing on Sunday morning also, the official said.
But there was no loss of life or injury to any one in the firing from across LoC, he said, adding that Indian troops guarding the LoC also fired a few rounds.
The aim of the cross-border firing is to push in armed militants into Jammu and Kashmir, he said. Close to 110 infiltration bids have been reported in the last eight months from across the LoC.
On Thursday, there was firing from Pakistan on forward posts of Panjal and Kopra in Sabzian sub-sector of Poonch district.
Since January this year, Pakistani troops have violated the five-year-old ceasefire agreement 32 times, 10 of them along the Poonch-Rajouri sector in August and September.
The Indian Army's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had strongly protested to his Pakistani counterpart on a couple of occasions over ceasefire violations, especially after the breaches in Tangdhar and Nowgam.
Breach of the ceasefire have been reported from Jammu, Samba, Rajouri, Tanghdhar and Poonch sectors, from where a large number of militants have been trying to infiltrate into India this year.
The Army has assessed that the Pakistani troops were firing whenever militant groups were making attempts to infiltrate into India, the official said.
Infiltration bids by militants have witnessed an increase in summer months in view of the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly elections due late this year. |
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