Gun fight after BSF jawan killed by Pak sniper on his b’day

:A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed by a Pakistani sniper on Wednesday in unprovoked firing at the international border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba sector, triggering a heavy gun fight between the two countries.

An official source said it was BSF jawan RP Hazra’s birthday on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old jawan was from Murshidabad in West Bengal. He was posted with the 173rd battalion of the BSF.

Hazra was deployed at Chak Dulma post in Hiranagar subsector of Samba district and was hit by a sniper bullet around 4.15pm. He was taken to the district hospital where he died of his injuries.

“After the unwarranted, unprovoked and inhuman act of the Pakistani sniper, BSF opened heavy fire on Pakistani posts opposite Chak Dulma and heavy exchange of fire is still on,” said a police officer.

Last year, Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement with India 882 times along the LoC. Thirty people — 14 army personnel, 12 civilians and four BSF personnel — were killed in the ceasefire violations.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiralled recently, with New Delhi crying foul over the treatment of the kin of death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav and Islamabad blaming its neighbour for “unprovoked” firing that killed three of its soldiers.

Commandos of the Indian Army crossed the LoC recently in the Poonch sector and killed three Pakistani soldiers in a “tactical retaliatory strike”. The attack was carried out two days after four Indian personnel, were allegedly killed by Pakistan in an ambush, and a day before the Indian foreign ministry hit out at Pakistan for the treatment meted out in Islamabad on Monday to Jadhav’s wife and mother.

JAMMU OFFICIAL SOURCES SAY TROOPER HAZRA FROM WEST BENGAL WAS KILLED ON HIS BIRTHDAY