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Heavy firing by Pakistani troops: Indian soldier killed.
Jammu (PTI): Casting an ominous shadow ahead of Indo-Pak talks, Pakistani troops on Monday opened unprovoked heavy fire on a forward Indian post along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir killing an army jawan. Viewing this action as a serious violation of ceasefire, army authorities deployed in Mendhar lodged a strong protest with their Pakistan counterparts. The firing comes just ahead of Foreign Secretary-level talks in Islamabad to review the fourth round of the composite dialogue process. This will be followed by meeting of External Affairs Miniter Pranab Mukherjee with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday. This is the third ceasefire violation along the Indo-Pak border and second along the LoC in less than a fortnight. "Pakistani troops resorted to heavy and unprovoked firing on our forward posts in Mendhar in Poonch sector around 0800 hours today", a senior army officer said. The firing, which continued for over 10 minutes, resulted in the death of an army jawan, he said, adding that Indian troops later took up positions, but observed restraint. The jawan, who was manning the forward post at the time of firing, belonged to 2/8 Gorkha Rifles. "They (Pak army) have violated the ceasefire by resorting to heavy firing on our positions", the officer said. Army authorities conveyed to Pakistani commanders that firing on the Indian post was started from Pakistani side, the army officer said and added that they have also been asked to hold a flag meeting to discuss the issue. Posted by: john frum 2008-05-19 |
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