Civilians killed in border exchange
Border security guard also dies as troops trade fire along LoC
At least two Pakistani civilians were killed and seven injured in a cross-border exchange of gunfire by Indian troops overnight, the military said yesterday.
The incident was the latest in a wave of exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops on the Line of Control (LoC), in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The military said Indian troops indulged in “unprovoked firing and shelling” in three sectors on the working boundary, During a meeting with a visiting top UK official, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the Kashmir issue must be resolved according to the UN resolutions — as per the commitments made by India.
The UK’s national security adviser Sir Mark Lyall Grant called on the prime minister.
Officials said the current high tensions between Pakistan and India came under discussion. the term used for border between eastern part of Pakistani province of Punjab and the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.
Pakistan Rangers Punjab “befittingly responded” to the Indian action in the sectors of Harpal, Pukhlia and Charwah, the military’s public relations wing said in a statement.
A minor, named as Haniya, aged one and a half years and a man, Mohammad Latif, of Janglora village “embraced Shahadat [martyrdom] while seven civilians were injured,” the statement said.
Indian police said the late night heavy exchange of fire occurred in its RS Pura sector, killing an Indian border security guard and a six-year-old boy.
The Border Security Force (BSF) soldier died after he received splinters from a mortar shell fired by Pakistan rangers, Danish Rana, inspector general of police for the area, told journalists.