The Pakistan Army late Sunday evening resorted to “intense” artillery/mortar shelling along the line of control in Poonch and Rajouri sectors. In response the Indian Army retaliated befittingly.
Till the time of filing the report, tensions prevailed in the Poonch sector as two back to back incidents of ceasefire violation were reported in Degwar and Khari Karmara sectors of Poonch. Artillery shelling was also reported from Sunderbani sector of Rajouri.
Unconfirmed reports claimed, by regularly targeting several forward posts of the Indian army, the Pakistan army is attempting to push small groups of heavily armed infiltrators inside the Indian territory. In retaliatory strikes, some of the Pakistani forward posts suffered heavy damages after they caught fire. Meanwhile, according to eyewitness reports, several shells fired by the Pakistani army landed in thickly populated areas.
A cordon and search operation was also launched in the Balakote area of Poonch in the wee hours of Sunday after several rounds of firing was reported from the close vicinity of a house of a local BJP leader.
According to a Jammu based Defence spokesman, Lt-Col Devender Anand, “a total number of three incidents of ceasefire violations were reported along the line of control in Rajouri and Poonch sectors on Sunday evening where Pakistan reported intense artillery shelling”.
According to a Defence Spokesman, “at around 6.45 p.m Pakistan initiated 'unprovoked' ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and artillery shelling along LoC in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri. Indian army retaliated befittingly. Earlier, the Pakistan army had also targeted forward Indian locations in Degwar and Khari Karmara sectors of Poonch using intense mortar and artillery shelling”.