Soldier killed in Pak

CASUALTIES Eleven troopers of army and BSF have been killed in Pak shelling since the surgical strikes across LoC

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: An Indian soldier was killed in Pakistani sniper fire in Machil sector in Kupwara district in Kashmir on Wednesday, taking the army casualty in Jammu and Kashmir to three in the last 24 hours.

The Indian army retaliated by targeting Pakistani posts with heavy weapons. “One soldier martyred in Pakistan sniping at Machil sector. In retaliation fire assault with heavy weapons being directed on many Pak posts,’’ the Army’sNorthernCommandwrote on microblogging site Twitter.

Eleven troopers of the army and the Border Security Force (BSF) have been killed in Pakistani shelling since India’s surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC)lateinSeptember.

In another development on Wednesday, two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in a village in Sopore of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The militants, believed to be foreigners, engaged the security forces during a search operation.

On Tuesday, two soldiers were killed in Naushera in Rajouri district after their vehicle was hit by a Pakistani mortar from across LoC. While one of the soldiers was killed on the spot, the other succumbed to injuries late on Tuesday. Five other soldiers in the rear of the vehicle escaped with minor injuries, said an army source.

The two soldiers of the 54 Rashtriya Rifles were from Benar