Pak army shells posts in J&K’S Poonch sector, India retaliates
The Indian Army retaliated with full force after Pakistani forces opened “indiscriminate” fire at posts along the Line of Control in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
“Pakistani army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 0930 hours (9.30 am) on Indian Army posts along the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch sector,” defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Mehta said, adding that Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively, and that the firing was still on.
The exchange of fire comes days after a junior commissioned officer, Naib Subedar S Sanayaima Kom was killed in an IED explosion in Degwar sector of Poonch at around 1.30 pm on Saturday, and a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Asia’s longest all-weather road tunnel at Chenani in Udhampur district. India had lodged its protest with the deputy high commissioner of Pakistan Syed Haider Shah over continued ceasefire violations by the Pakistani side along the LOC and international border in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony was organised on Sunday to bid farewell to Naib Subedar Kom at Nagrota based 16 Corps headquarters .
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was killed and five others injured on Monday after suspected militants opened fire on a CRPF convoy in Sempora area on the outskirts of the city, bordering south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
CRPF spokesperson Rajesh Yadav identified the jawan as Bassapa of the 97 battalion. Two civilians have also been injured in the attack — driver of the bus in which CRPF personnel were travelling and a 10-year-old school girl. The attack took place around a kilometre away from a prominent school in the area. CRPF officials said the security men travelling in the convoy, that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar, were arriving for upcoming election duties. Bypolls in two Lok Sabha constituencies of Kashmir are scheduled for April 9 and 12.
There has been an increase in militant activity in the Valley, which has subdued the ongoing election campaigning. Officials said militants fired their guns at a CRPF convoy in Pantha Chowk near Sempora in the afternoon.
They did not specify whether or not the CRPF personnel retaliated. Immediately after the attack, forces swung into action and started a search operation to trace the attackers.