PAKISTAN SAYS IT DESTROYED INDIAN POST, KILLED FIVE

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s army on Friday claimed it killed five Indian soldiers when it destroyed their post in Kashmir in retaliation to sniper fire that struck a school van, allegedly killing the driver.

Pakistan Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor and other officials said the Indian post near Tatta Pani village was “destroyed” late Thursday after alleged sniper fire earlier in the day hit a school van carrying children in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir. Ghafoor said Pakistan will always respond to “Indian terrorism against innocent citizens.”

In a tweet, Ghaffor late on Thursday shared a video clip purportedly showing bombing of the Indian Army post and smoke billowing from the site after it was hit by fire.

An Indian Army official in New Delhi said the Pakistan Army’s claim is “baseless”. The army has also said there was no cease-fire violation from its side on Thursday.

Pakistan says gunfire hit a Pakistani school van days after India said gunmen belonging to the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed were behind a weekend attack on an army camp in Kashmir.

SUNJUWAN CAMP ATTACKERS CAME FROM PAK 7 MONTHS AGO

The three heavily-armed Jaish-eMohammad (JeM) terrorists who carried out the audacious attack on Sunjuwan military camp in Jammu had infiltrated into Kashmir from Pakistan in June last year, army sources said on Friday. According to preliminary investigation of the army, the three terrorists were hiding in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir for the past seven months and were looking at carrying out an attack.

MILITANTS ESCAPE

SRINAGAR:The militants, who were surrounded by police personnel in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, escaped after a brief shoot-out, police said. The gunfight between security forces and the militants started early morning. “Operation was launched after we got information about their presence. The militants, however, fired indiscriminately and managed to escape in the dark,” a police spokesman said.