Soldiers at LoC were killed as they had slept

The five Indian soldiers killed on the Line of Control on the intervening night of August 5 and 6 were shot dead at pointblank range as they slept, reports CNN-IBN which claims to have exclusive details of internal Army investigations.

The killing, it will be recalled, had led to countrywide outrage and a furore in Parliament with the Defence Minister initially reluctant to pin the killings down on Pakistani Army.

The Army investigators have since reconstructed the incident: The ill-fated patrol had left Cheeta post, near the Poonch village of Khari Karmara, to familiarize newly-posted soldiers with the area. They stopped at Delta Post, a post half way to the Army’s main position at Begum. Five soldiers decided to get some sleep for the night, expecting no trouble in this normally incident-free area. Sambhaji Kute, the sole survivor, was on guard duty, but had gone to relieve himself when the incident happened. Army headquarters in New Delhi declined to respond to multiple requests for comment from CNNIBN, saying only that an official investigation was on.

Sajjad Hussain reports

from Islamabad: Meanwhile, the Pakistan National Assembly has passed a resolution deploring what it called an act of aggression by the Indian Army on Wednesday. The reference is to a firing incident at the LoC resulting in the death of a Captain of the Pakistan Army. Even as the resolution castigated India, it called for “constructive” and result-oriented process of engagement with India. In another development, a Pakistani army official claimed India had resorted to unprovoked firing at 11.15 PM on Wednesday night in Batal and Nakyal sectors. Both sides have accused each other of several violations of the 2003 ceasefire pact on the LoC.