Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops today resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, targeting forward locations at Bagtore area, defence officials said.
The fresh ceasefire violation (CFV) in Gurez, Bandipora comes a day after the Indian Army recovered a US-made assault rifle and other arms and ammunition in the same district.
Defence officials said that the Pakistani army initiated firing with small arms and mortar shelling along the LoC in Bagtore sector at 11:30 am today.
They said that Pakistani troops targeted forward defence locations in Bagtore.
“Indian Army is giving a strong and befitting response to the ceasefire violation,” a defence official said, adding that “heavy shelling was going on from both sides.” However, there was no immediate report of any causality on either side, he added.
After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year, J&K has witnessed a huge spurt in CFV the along the LoC, taking toll on civilians and also on the security forces especially army men deployed on the forward posts. Yesterday, three soldiers including an army major were injured in J&K’s Rajouri district in the CFV of which one rifleman later succumbed.
Official figures reveal that this year, 1,840 CFVs were recorded in borders of J&K along the LoC and IB, the highest ever in the past three years.
-ARK
