Captured one Indian soldier, killed 8: Pak

The Pakistan military on Thursday said it had captured an Indian soldier and killed eight others, Dawn quoted security sources as saying. The soldier was identified as Chandu Babulal Chohan, 22, from Maharashtra. Dawn said he had been shifted to an undisclosed location. The soldier was caught after the Indian army fired across the Line of Control (LoC), it said. It also said the bodies of the dead Indian soldiers lay unattended at the LoC, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

“I am also hearing the same thing that one person has been apprehended. It would not be appropriate to say that the army personnel has been apprehended because before making a statement I would say that the surgical strike took place last night and we have made the statement in the afternoon. So obviously we won’t be making a statement when our person is known to be captured by the Pakistani army. Obviously, it is something which they have done today during retaliation and captured our soldier,” Defence PRO Commander Rahul Sinha told The Free Press Journal.

The army confirmed that a soldier from 37 Rashtriya Rifles had “inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control”.

Pakistan has been informed through DGMO about this. Such inadvertent crossing by the army and civilians on either side is not unusual, the army said. “They are returned through existing mechanisms”.

The army described as “baseless” reports that eight Indian soldiers were killed.