An Indian Army soldier was martyred along the line of control in Naoshera sector of Rajouri district early Monday morning.
Till late in the evening the Indian Army had not revealed the rank and identity of the solider who made supreme sacrifice in the line of duty raising question marks over the nature of operations which led to his martyrdom in the forward area of Naoshera.
According to highly placed Defence sources the soldier who attained martyrdom was identified as Sepoy Subimesh of 27 Madras Regiment,hailing from district Kozhikode in Kerala.
The martyred soldier was serving in the Indian Army for last eight years and was still a bachelor. According to these Defence sources, "the Indian patrol was possibly targeted by the Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistan Army with the support of local terrorists waiting to be launched inside the Indian territory around 7.30 a.m". Interestingly, the official handout of the Ministry of Defence was also silent on the fact whether it was another provocative act of ceasefire violation in the area or not.
Apparently playing down the incident Defence spokesperson based in Jammu issued a statement claiming, "an Army patrol was fired upon by terrorists/inimical elements close to the line of Control in the forward areas of Naoshera Sector in the early hours".
It was not made clear who were the inimical elements along with terrorists who targeted the Indian patrol.
It was also not revealed or confirmed whether the Indian patrol was moving ahead of the barbed wire fence or ahead of the loC during the patrolling when the soldiers were made easy target from across the line of Control.
"Own troops retaliated appropriately", Defence spokesperson said adding in the ensuing fire fight one soldier was injured and later attained martyrdom while being evacuated to Military Hospital. He said, search operations were still in progress till last reports came in".If the fire fight took place along the line of control the official handout was also silent on the fact whether the Pak army provided cover fire and if yes why it should not be treated as provocative act of ceasefire violation.