Indian soldier beheaded in encounter with militants

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: An army jawan was killed on Friday and his body mutilated by a group of militants close to the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Macchil sector. The militants fled to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of Pakistani fire.

One of the infiltrators was also killed in the gunfight, an army spokesperson said. “In a despicableact, theterroristsmutilatedthe bodyof theIndianArmysoldier… This act will invite an appropriate response,” the spokesperson said. Sources said the militants, who attacked12Indianposts, beheaded the soldier.

Thebarbarismwasatruereflectionthatpervadedofficialandnonofficial organisations across the border, the spokesperson said.

In 2013, Pakistani soldiers crossed the line of control and attacked a patrol party, killing two soldiers and mutilating the bodies.Oneof thesoldierswasalso beheaded. Earlier in the day, the BSF said it had killed 15 Pakistani soldiers in the last one week, a claim dismissed as baseless by the Islamabad that said six civil- iansdiedinIndianfiringadayago.

Civilians continue to be in the firing line on the Indian side as well. A woman and a 15-year-old boy were killed when Pakistan targeted Indian posts and villages along the LoC on another day of heavy cross-border shelling.

An army officer and Border SecurityForcepersonnelwerealso injured in Poonch district, but the

PTI IG BSF DK Upadhyay pays tribute to BSF head constable Jitender Kumar Singh, who was killed in Pak firing, in Jammu on Friday.