7 Pak Rangers die in BSF counter fire

Centre puts Army, BSF on alert on border

The Border Security Force said on Friday that it had killed seven Pakistan Rangers and a militant in retaliatory fire along the international border in J&K’s Kathua district. The stretch of the 198-km border through the Hiranagar sector of Kathua has seen hostilities erupting at intervals between the BSF and Pakistan Rangers for the past week.

BSF officials said the Pakistan Rangers opened small-arms, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire on Indian posts in Hiranagar sector after which it retaliated using same-calibre weapons.

BSF constable Gurnam Singh was critically injured in the Pakistani firing, they added.

The Pakistan Rangers, official sources said, violated the ceasefire at two locations on Friday, that were retaliated to by the BSF and the Army. The first was reported at 9.30 am in Hiranagar sector, and the second at 12.40 pm in Rajouri region, the sources said.

The sources said that after the sniper attack in the Hiranagar sector, the Pakistan Rangers used heavy mortar shells, while in Rajouri it was more firing with small automatic weapons.

At Hiranagar, the BSF retaliated with heavy firing, that resulted in the death of seven Pakistan Rangers and one militant planning to infiltrate across the border.

The Union home ministry has now put both the BSF and the Army on high alert along the IB and the Line of Control. Some reports said that the Pakistan Army has mobilised its heavy artillery and even tanks on its side of the border.

In Pakistan, Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa, directorgeneral of Inter-Services Public Relations, denied that any Pakistani border guards were killed in the Indian firing.