SRI NAGAR: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan and a girl were killed after Pakistani troops breached the border ceasefire and fired on BSF positions and civilian areas along the International Border (IB) in the R S Pura sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
The BSF claimed that two mortar positions of Pakistani troops had been damaged in retaliatory firing, inflicting heavy casualties.
A BSF official said Pakistani troops breached the ceasefire in the R S Pura, Arnia and Ramgarh sectors in Jammu at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday night.He said Pakistani troops resorted to heavy firing and mortar shelling on BSF outposts and civilian areas.“The BSF men guarding the border outposts returned the fire,” he said.
“A BSF man who was manning an LMG position in the border outpost was hit by a bullet. He was evacuated to a nearby civil hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries,” the official said.The deceased jawan was identified as Head Constable A Suresh of village Bandra Chetty, Dharmapuri, in Tamil Nadu.Another jawan was injured in the Pakistani firing and was hospitalised.The official said a 17-year-old girl, identified as Sabita, was also killed in the cross-border firing.The BSF Director General, K K Sharma, and other top BSF officials attended the wreath laying ceremony for the slain border guard at the BSF camp in Paloura, Jammu.
Speaking to reporters, Sharma said that since India was a peaceful country it never initiated firing, but would not hesitate to give a befitting reply to the enemy.He said that the border guards had targeted Pakistani troops’ border outposts after the ceasefire violation on Wednesday night. “We targeted two of their mortar positions and feel both have been damaged. We have inflicted heavy casualties on them,” he said.
Terming the situation on the border as tense, he said, “Pakistani troops are breaching border ceasefire at the Line of Control regularly, and have now resorted to unprovoked firing at IB”.“We are ready to deal with any situation and have taken special measures. We are ready to foil infiltration attempts, meet any challenge, and to retaliate against their ceasefire violations,” he said. The DG BSF said he had told his commanders on the ground to retaliate with full force to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.