A week after the killing of five Army soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) by Pakistan Army commandos and continuing ceasefire violations along the border, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said the armed forces guarding the border were free to take appropriate action according to emerging situations there.
As the Defence Minister was sending out his message, Pakistani troopers continued to pound Indian positions along the LoC for the fifth time in the last 48 hours of which four took place in the last 24 hours.
Pakistani forces used small arms such as rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery mortar shells to hit targets across the LoC.
However, there was not much damage or casualty on the Indian side.
Along the IB, the Pakistani forces targeted the Kotha post in Samba sector, Defence sources said from Jammu.
At the Durga battalion post in Poonch sector, the Pakistani troops continued their firing at Indian positions intermittently for close to 20 hours beginning at 10 pm on Sunday and through Monday, defence sources said.
Pakistani troops fired at 11 posts in Digwar, Mankote and Durga Battalion areas. Indian troopers retaliated with calibrated offensive response with their small arms, the sources added.
BSF personnel Pawan Kumar was injured in the firing at a forward post on Sunday when sniper fire hit him.
Three BSF posts, including Alfa Machial Border Out Post (BOP) in Kanachak belt of Jammu district, came under Pakistani firing.
On Saturday, Pakistani troops had targeted several Indian posts by firing 7,000 rounds of ammunition and mortar shells along the LoC in Poonch district.
Meanwhile, Pakistan summoned Indian deputy high commissioner to Islamabad Gopal Baglay on Monday to protest “ceasefire violations” by the Army and border-guarding forces along the LoC, claiming it resulted in the death of a civilian at Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.