In the sudden firing, an Army Major and three soldiers were killed, the officer said. pti file photo
Four army personnel, including an officer, were killed as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Keri sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
Sources said Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts using 120 mm and 82 mm mortar bombs and heavy machine guns in Topa Barat Gala in Keri area of frontier Rajouri district, 222 km southwest of Srinagar, at around 12:15 pm.
Four army soldier, including a major, who were on patrolling duty, were killed in Pakistani shelling as Indian army strongly retaliated resulting in exchanges which were going on intermittently till evening, they said.
Sources said the ceasefire violation was preceded by an IED blast and militants firing on an Indian patrol near the LoC.
An army spokesperson identified the slain soldiers as Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, sepoys Pargat Singh and Gurmeet Singh, who belonged to 120 Infantry Brigade. Major Ambadas, 32, belonged to District Bhandara, Maharashtra and is survived by his wife Avoli Moharkar, he said.
Lance Naik Gurmail, 34, belonged to District Amritsar in Punjab and is survived by his wife Kuljit Kaur and a daughter while sepoy Pargat, 30, belonged to District Karnal, Haryana and is survived by his wife and a son, the spokesperson added.
On Friday evening, Pakistani troops had violated ceasefire along the LoC in Nowshera sector of the same district. There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops on LoC and International Border (IB) this year.
According to official figures over 880 violations of 2003 ceasefire accord have taken place along the LoC and the IB in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017, killing 34 people. More than 80 civilians and 70 security personnel were also injured in the firing.
Last year, there were 449 incidents of ceasefire violations in which 13 civilians and 13 security personnel were killed and 83 civilians and 99 security personnel were injured, official figures reveal. In 2014, there were 583 violations in which 14 civilians and three security personnel were killed and 101 civilians and 28 security personnel injured.
The Indian and Pakistani armies had agreed on a ceasefire along the LoC, the IB and along Actual Ground Position Line at Siachen glacier in November 2003. Although it held good by for 10-years, in the last few years, Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire agreement hundreds of times.
India shares a 3,323-km-long border with Pakistan of which 221 km of the IB and 740 km of the LoC fall in Jammu and Kashmir.