A day after three Indian soldiers were martyred in Macchil sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, the Indian Army on Wednesday morning launched a massive counter-offensive along the line of Control (loC) between Naushera and Krishna Ghati sectors.
According to field reports, Indian troopers synchronised their punitive strikes with an aim to inflict maximum damages on the enemy. The Army used 80 mm mortars and 120 mm mortars to target the forward Pakistani posts located at a higher altitude.
The Pakistan Army on Wednesday claimed that seven people, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the loC, taking the death toll in such incidents to 14 since last week. Director General Military Operations (DGMO) of the Pakistan Army called up his Indian counterpart lt General Ranbir Singh on the hotline on Wednesday evening to protest about civilians’ death.
The Indian DGMO expressed grief at Pakistani civilian casualties, but emphatically stated that retaliatory firing by Indian troops has only been carried out targeting locations from where Pakistan has initiated ceasefire violations on Indian posts.
The firepower used by the Indian Army rattled Pakistani soldiers and forced them to adopt defensive posture. A senior officer of the Nagrotra-based 16 corps headquarters told The Pioneer, “Indian Army is giving a befitting reply to the Pakistan Army on Wednesday.”
local reports from Naushera and Manjakote revealed the Pakistan Army must have suffered extensive damages and fatal causalities as Indian troopers gave them a befitting reply. On Indian side, at least for BSF jawans suffered minor injures, while some civilians living in the forward villagers were also affected.
Most of the population living beyond barbed wire fencing in forward areas have been either shifted to safer places or remained huddled inside bunkers.
District administrations in Rajouri and Poonch have announced closure of all educational institutions in the border areas till further orders. Majority of schools falling in the firing range in Pallanwala sector of Akhnoor in Jammu are already shut down. The loC region in Jammu is witnessing gradual escalation since November 15.
A total of 26 people, including 14 security personnel and 12 civilians, have been killed and more than 83 suffered injuries in Pakistani shelling along IB and loC in Jammu after the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army on September 29 this year.