BSF Jawan martyred in Pak firing

LoC breached in Poonch; CRPF man injured in Valley

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: A BSF Head Constable was killed after a patrolling party of the frontier guarding force was fired upon by Pakistan from across the border Tuesday morning, hours after the enemy nation opened heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.

Another CRPF trooper was injured when terrorists carried out a midnight attack on the paramilitary forces camp in Pulwama district, police said.

In Ramgarh Sector at Indo-Pak International Border, a BSF jawan was martyred in cross-border firing by Pakistani troopers on Tuesday morning.

The head constable rank jawan identified as Narinder Singh of 176 BSF was suspected to have been hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border when troops were clearing the tall 'sarkanda' grass in front of their border post in the RS Pora area in the Ramgarh sector, at about 1040 am, officials said.

The body of the head constable rank jawan was recovered by a Border Security Force (BSF) search party "late evening" after over six hours as troops waited for sunset, and to "sanitise the body for possible booby traps" that may have been planted by the enemy, they said.

"A BSF party which was on domination patrolling ahead of the fence was fired upon. BSF troops immediately took position and retaliated but the enemy bullets hit a jawan. The area on Pak side has a protective bundh close to IB," the force said in a statement.

It added that the Indian side area is undulated, marshy and has thick 'sarkanda' growth that made immediate location of the felled jawan difficult.

"The body of the jawan was found by a search party. It is suspected that he was shot with a precise aim by the Pakistani side when they were clearing the area near the fence," a senior official said.

Earlier, officials said, the A jawan was reported missing from along the International Border in Jammu region and was believed to have been hit by unprovoked cross-border fire.

Pakistan had fired about 10 rounds of small arms at around 11 in the morning and till then there was no firing.

This incident has occurred just a day after Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh inaugurated two pilot projects of smart fencing at Samba and Jammu district for strengthening of borders.

There is no change in the attitude of Pakistan, the minister had said.

Meanwhile,

Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district on Tuesday.

Defence sources said that the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Gulpur area at around 1 a.m.

"Firing exchanges continued till 3.30 a.m. No casualty or damage was reported on our side," the sources added.

In Kashmir, a Central Reserve Police Force trooper was injured when terrorists attacked its camp in Pulwama district, police said.
Details revealed that terrorists tossed a grenade towards the CRPF’s 183 battalion in Newa village where a detachment of the state police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) is also located. The grenade did not explode, however.

In a quick follow up, the terrorists opened fire on the camp around 12.45 am in which one paramilitary man was injured.

The CRPF jawan injured in the attack was shifted to Army's 92 base hospital here. A cordon and search operation has started in the area.