Srinagar: A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of Indian Army was killed as India and Pakistan exchanged fire along Line of Control in Manjakote sector of Rajouri district of Jammu division on Wednesday.
Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Devinder Anand said that Pakistani army resorted to unprovoked firing in Tarkundi area in which a JCO was killed.
He said that the Indian Army gave a “befitting” reply.
Official sources said the officer of the rank of Naib Subedar was posted at a forward location and he suffered fatal injuries when Pakistan resorted to firing and shelling from across the LoC.
On August 30, another JCO was killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district. The deceased soldier was identified as Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh, a resident of village Goindwal Sahib in Amritsar’s Khadur Sahib Tehsil in Punjab.
With Wednesday’s casualty, this is the ninth killing of soldiers along the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri sector in Pakistan shelling during the last three months.
The Union Home Ministry, in an RTI reply, recently disclosed that as many as 8,571 ceasefire violations by Pakistan had been reported along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir during the last three years–on an average at-least nine ceasefire violations daily thereby causing loss of lives and property.
“In these ceasefire violations by Pakistan at IB and LOC areas during the period between January 2018 and July 2020, at least 119 persons lost their lives including 63 civilians and 56 security force personnel besides causing injuries to 308 civilians and 300 security personnel,” the reply said.
