Army porter killed in Pak firing along LoC

An army porter was killed and a girl wounded in Pakistani firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector of north Kashmir on Saturday.

A defence spokesperson said Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the LoC in Kamalkote, 110 km from here, at around 11 am.

"Indian soldiers retaliated and the exchange of fire continued for over an hour. The army has started a combing operation in the area," he said.

There has been a sharp rise in ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army this year with 600 violations reported till the beginning of this month. Nine civilians and 16 security personnel were killed in these incidents. 

The number of violations was



significantly less - 228 - for 2016, according to the army data.

On October 12, an army personnel and a porter were killed and six others injured when Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the LoC in Poonch district.

A senior army officer said they expect the ceasefire violations to continue as Pakistan has been relentlessly trying to push heavily armed militants into India with nefarious intention of disturbing peace and cause casualties on security forces in the hinterland.

"However, well aware of the new strategy of Pakistan, we have strengthened anti-infiltration grid. Whenever the militants try to infiltrate, they would be either killed or forced to retreat," the defence spokesperson said.