Srinagar: The Army on Saturday said that the Pakistani troops resorted to “unprovoked” mortar shelling and small arms fire to target Indian forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district earlier during the day.
It said that the firing and shelling took place in Balakote and Mankote areas of Poonch from 10 am onwards, drawing a strong retaliation from the Indian Army. The exchanges between the facing armies continued for several hours.
However, there were no reports of any casualties on the Indian side. Poonch’s Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav said that the residents have been asked to remain indoors and take other necessary precautionary measures to avoid any harm coming to theme.
Reports said that while firing and shelling from across the LoC was underway schoolchildren trapped in the area falling in close proximity of the de facto border were rescued by the authorities and shifted to a safer location before they were restored to their parents.
An earlier report quoting Army sources said that in a separate incident Pakistan Army was forced to raise the ‘white flag’ to recover the bodies of its two soldiers killed by Indian Army in retaliation to a similar violation of November 2003 ceasefire understanding in Hajipir sector of the LoC.
The report quoting unnamed Army sources said that the Indian troops killed Pakistani Army’s Sepoy Ghulam Rasool, a resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistani Punjab, in Hajipir sector of Baramulla district on the intervening night of September 10 and 11.
Next day, the Pakistan Army tried to retrieve the corpse of its soldier by intensifying ceasefire violation. While attempting to recover the body, another Pakistani soldier was killed, the sources said.
After failing to retrieve their bodies despite repeated attempts for over two days, the Pakistan Army soldiers on Friday raised the ‘white flag’ and subsequently took the bodies with them, the source said.
