Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 29: Two Army jawans were injured in heavy mortar shelling and firing by Pakistani troops in Sabjian sector along Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district in wee hours of this morning while an eerie calm prevailing in other shelling-hit villages like Balakote, Nowshera, Mendhar today, which though were peaceful today but the people generally refrained from coming out of their houses.
Official reports said Pakistani troops started fresh round of mortar shelling in Sabjian sector of Poonch district at 1.30 am directly targeting forward defence locations and civilian areas, drawing massive retaliation from the Indian side. Heavy exchange of mortar shelling and firing continued till 6 am.
Two Army jawans were injured in the shelling, sources said adding that they have been identified as Naik Shubhane Shek and Naik Amzad. They were evacuated from the firing site and shifted to District Hospital. Cloudy weather during the day delayed their airlifting to the Military Hospital in Udhampur. However, their condition was stated to be stable.
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However, there were no civilian casualties or major damage of their property on Indian side despite heavy shelling by Pakistani troops for more than five hours. Even though the shelling stopped at around 6 am, the people living in forward areas along LoC in Sabjian sector didn’t venture out of their houses anticipating sudden shelling by Pakistani troops, which were trying hard to cause civilian casualties on the Indian side.
Not only in Sabjian, people living close to LoC in Balakote, Mendhar, Nowshera and surrounding sectors in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri have been refraining from visiting forward areas due to sudden and heavy mortar shelling and firing with automatic and semi-automatic weapons from Pakistan side at regular intervals.
Sources said that Indian troops have given befitting response to Pakistan army at all the places along LoC and inflicted heavy casualties (both fatal and non-fatal) on Pakistan army personnel besides causing extensive damage to posts and bunkers of the enemy.
Tensions have been persisting along LoC in Poonch and Rajouri district after the killing of two Indian soldiers and mutilation of their bodies in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district on May 1. In retaliation, Indian Army have eliminated several Pakistani troops and damaged their infrastructure on the LoC.
Today’s ceasefire violation was 22nd this month.
Yesterday, the Pakistani army violated ceasefire by unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and shelling along the LoC in Bhimber Gali (BG) sector in Rajouri district from 2.45 pm for about four hours.
The Pakistani troops yesterday also violated ceasefire along the LoC in Balakote belt of Poonch district, reports said, adding that the shells landed in several villages.
In this month, there have been 22 ceasefire violations by the Pakistani army in Poonch and Rajouri districts besides a cross-LoC attack and two infiltration bids in which four people, including three jawans, have been martyred.
On June 26, the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, the Pakistani army had fired with small arms and automatic weapons and shelled mortars along the LoC in Bhimber Gali sector of Rajouri.
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