Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 10: An Army jawan was seriously injured when Pakistan army targeted him on his forward post with sniper fire at Krishna Ghati sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district even as there was no let up in ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops on the LoC.
Official sources said the Pakistan army fired a sniper shot on forward Indian Army post in Krishna Ghati sector at 5 pm today causing serious injuries to the jawan, who was manning the post. He has been identified as Lance Naik Bhupinder Singh, a resident of village Darnala in Sangrur district of Punjab.
He was hit in the abdomen by the bullet.
Sources said troops evacuated the injured Army soldier from the forward post and took him to the District Hospital Poonch from where he was airlifted to Command Hospital, Udhampur in view of his serious condition.
Troops retaliated the firing and exchange of firing lasted few minutes, sources said.
Prior to the incident, Pakistan army last night violated ceasefire along the LoC in Balakote sector of Hamirpur battalion area in Poonch district last night, PRO (Defence) and Ministry of Defence spokespersons Lt Col Manish Mehta said.
He said Pakistan army resorted to firing on forward Indian positions at 7.05 pm and extended it up to 8.10 am. The Indian side retaliated effectively.
Pakistan army used automatic weapons and Heavy Machine Guns in the firing and the troops retaliated with similar calibre of weapons, leading to heavy exchanges. There were no casualties or damage on the Indian side is last night’s firing. However, casualties or damage, if any, on the other side were not known.
Sources said the ongoing ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army on the LoC for past several days have taken new turn with today’s sniping incident in which one Army jawan was seriously injured.
The sniping incident could further escalate the ongoing tensions and ceasefire violations along the LoC, which have become a routine affair for the past several days especially after the killings of six civilians and injuries to over 20 others in Balakote sector of Poonch district on August 15 and 16. In retaliation, Pakistan side had also suffered heavy damages.
The border skirmishes on the LoC were followed by Pakistan shelling on the International Border (IB) in Arnia and RS Pura sectors in which three civilians including two women were killed and 17 others injured. Retaliatory firing by the BSF had led to 11 fatal casualties and 40 non-fatal casualties on Pakistan side.
The sniping incident by Pakistan comes at a time when India and Pakistan were holding the Director General level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Rangers in New Delhi. The talks will conclude on September 12.
Only yesterday, Pakistan army had violated ceasefire in Nowgam sector of the Kashmir valley causing injuries to a BSF Sub Inspector and a jawan.
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