15 Pakistani Rangers killed: BSF

Fifteen Pakistani border guards and soldiers were killed over the last one week in India’s retaliatory firing along the border in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Friday.

Later in the night, an Army jawan was killed in an encounter with terrorists who later mutilated his body in Kashmir’s Kupwara district, the Army said. One militant was also killed in the gunbattle.

India’s retaliation came after repeated violations of the November 2003 ceasefire agreement by Pakistan’s forces, which resorted to heavy small arms and mortar fire, also targeting civilian areas.

On Friday itself, two civilians were killed and many others injured in Pakistani firing in Poonch and Jammu districts. Heavy border firing has sparked panic among residents of frontier villages with about 400 families reportedly moving to safer places. Senior BSF official Arun Kumar said, “There have been repeated ceasefire violations. At least, 15 Pakistani Rangers have been killed since October 21”. Union home minister Rajnath Singh also said Indian soldiers are giving a befitting reply to unprovoked ceasefire violations.

Regarding the Friday night killing of the jawan, an Army spokesperson said that the terrorists fled back into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under the cover of firing by Pakistani soldiers. The Army vowed revenge. “The incident will be responded to appropriately,” he said.

The escalation in border firing comes even as Pakistan expelled an Indian high commission official in Islamabad after a staffer of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi was caught spying and told to leave.

In J&K India shares with Pakistan a 198km international border (IB) and a 740km Line of Control (LoC). The latest skirmishes have taken place in Rajouri, Samba, Abdullian, RS Pura and Suchetgarh sectors and sub-sectors along the LoC and the IB.

Three BSF jawans and as many civilians have died in Pakistani shelling and firing along the IB during the last five days. About three dozen civilians have also been injured during this period.

Defence spokesman Manish Mehta said, “Yesterday (Thursday), unprovoked ceasefire violation continued till night. It again started at three places this morning. We are giving them an appropriate response.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan rejected India’s claims of killing its troops. “Indian claims of killing any Pakistani soldier is absolutely baseless,” a statement said.

The BSF also said Pakistani forces were pushing militants into India. The police on Friday that it arrested four militants and a policeman during a raid in Srinagar’s Bemina area. They are believed to be members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), officials said. In a separate operation, one militant and a local resident were arrested from southern Kulgam district.

Tension and fatal border skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed countries have been rising after terrorists killed 19 Indian soldiers last month, prompting India to launch a global diplomatic offensive, and carry out anti-terror surgical strikes across the LoC.