SRI NAGAR: After a lull of two days, Pakistani troops again breached border ceasefire by firing on Indian posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.
“The Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing from heavy weapons towards the Indian posts and civilian areas along the IB in Arnia sector around 7:30 am. The unprovoked firing continued for nearly an hour,” the BSF sources said, adding, the Pakistani troops also targeted civilian areas and the BSF posts with mortar shells.
“The mortar shells fired by the Pakistani troops landed near two residential houses in Arnia sector, causing injuries to three persons, including two brothers,” sources said. The injured were identified as Surjeet Kumar, 38, his elder brother Som Nath, 50 and Vishal.
“The trio were shifted to a local hospital, where the doctors referred critically injured Surjeet to Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, for specialised treatment”. The sources said dozens of mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops landed in deserted Arnia town, without causing any loss of life or damage to property. They also said the Pakistani troops had fired indiscriminately overnight on many posts and civilian areas in R S Pura.
“The BSF men, deployed along the IB in Arnia and R S Pura sectors, retaliated by firing effectively from small caliber weapons on ‘enemy positions’,” the BSF sources said.
The fresh skirmishes along the IB have caused fear psychosis among the border residents, who had returned to their homes after a brief lull. The authorities had evacuated 30,000 people from the areas close to IB and LoC in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts, in view of continuous firing and shelling by Pakistani troops since October first.