The Pakistani forces opened gunfire and launched mortar shells in hours-long cross-border firing in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.
The ceasefire violation by Pakistan followed a foiled infiltration bid as Indian security forces killed five infiltrators trying to enter India from the Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK).
Locals have said that such firing by the Pakistanis, which included mortal shells, has happened for the first time in years. At least one Border Security Force (BSF) jawan and four civilians have been injured in the exchange of fire.
A senior official told PTI that Pakistani troops targeted five Indian posts along the international border (IB) in the Arnia and RS Pura sectors in J&K overnight.
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Houses damaged in Pakistani cross-border firing
Hours after the Indian forces killed five infiltrators at the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto India-Pakistan border in the Kashmir region, Pakistan resorted to cross-border in the Jammu region. Visuals of damaged houses have also surfaced.
Some of the areas that came under fire are Arnia, Suchtgarh, Sia, Jabowal, and Treva in Jammu and Kashmir, according to PTI.
Locals told ANI that firing began around 8 pm and continued for several hours. Ekta from RS Pura area said that all the glass windows in her house were broken from the firing that went on till 4 am. She added that the kitchen of the house was also damaged.
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Locals in the Bulleh Chak village said that at least three mortar shells had been recovered. In both the areas, no civilian was reported to be harmed.
The PTI reported a senior BSF official as saying that the force responded to the unprovoked firing at the Indian posts "befittingly".
The cross-border firing by Pakistan, which is often intended as a cover to let infiltrators into India, had come down significantly after India and Pakistan came to an agreement in 2021.
5 infiltrators killed in Kupwara
The cross-border firing began hours after the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Indian Army killed five infiltrators in the Kupwara district.
The five killed infiltrators belonged to the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), said officials.
The joint police-army operation was conducted on the basis of a tip-off in the Machhil sector along the Line of Control (LoC), reported PTI.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including five AK series rifles and other incriminating materials, were recovered from the site of the gunfight, said officials cited by PTI. A police spokesperson said that the operation was launched during the intervening night of October 25-26 at the Sardari Nar area along the LoC.
The spokesperson said, "Based on an intelligence input generated by Kupwara Police, an infiltration bid was successfully foiled in a joint operation launched by Police and Army along the Line of Control in the Machhil sector of Kupwara district. In this swift and coordinated operation, five terrorists were neutralised...Besides, multiple ambushes were laid by the joint teams along the LoC. Today, the joint team observed the movement of terrorists in the thick dense forests of the area who taking advantage of the difficult terrain infiltrated our side. Employing meticulous tactics, the terrorists were intercepted who fired indiscriminately upon the joint team. The fire was retaliated, leading to the elimination of five unidentified terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT."
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The killing of five infiltrators comes four days after two infiltrators were killed in the Uri sector. Earlier in June, the PTI reported that a total of 11 infiltrators were killed, four of them in the same Machil sector and five others in the nearby Jumagund area of the Keran sector.
