Pakistan troops open fire at Indian posts in Kashmir

Jammu : Pakistani troops opened heavy gun fire at 10 Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to push in terrorists into the state, army officials said Sunday.

The Pakistani firing began late Saturday in Krishna Ghati sector in the mountainous district of Poonch, about 250 km from here, and lasted till Sunday morning.

“They used small arms, light machineguns and rockets. The firing was heavy up to 11 p.m. Thereafter, it became intermittent and was going on till 7 a.m.,” an official said.

Indian troops retaliated “to silence the Pakistani guns”, he said.

The exchange of fire has stopped. “Ours was a measured response aimed at preventing infiltration and silence Pakistani firing,” an official said.

The army said the motive of the firing was give cover to a group of around 16 terrorists trying to cross the LoC to get into Jammu and Kashmir.

Though the army said it was an unsuccessful bid, an officer said they were searching the area to find if any infiltrator sneaked in.

In another incident, a soldier on patrol near the Salotri post in Krishna Ghati sector was injured in a landmine blast Saturday evening.

The army blamed it on a stray landmine but people in Mendhar town told IANS that these landmines were planted by “Pakistani agents” to inflict casualties on the Indian Army.

Aijaz Kazmi, a journalist in Poonch, said: “Never have Indian soldiers stepped over their own mines so frequently in this area. It suggests some mischief by forces in Pakistan.”

Four such cases have happened since Nov 17 in which one army porter and three soldiers were injured.

More than 50 cases of ceasefire violations have taken place this year.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on the frontiers in November 2003.