Officer, 2 Soldiers, All In Their 30s, Killed In Pak Firing In Jammu

The army said it had retaliated "strongly and effectively" against Pakistani army posts for the ceasefire violation in the Keri sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri.

All India | Reported by , Edited by | Updated: December 23, 2017 20:00 IST
Officer, 2 Soldiers, All In Their 30s, Killed In Pak Firing In Jammu

Indian troops were retaliating effectively, an officer said (Representational Image)

Jammu: 

Highlights

  1. Pak troops fired on Indian post in Jammu's Keri sector
  2. Indian Army says it has retaliated "strongly and effectively"
  3. Huge spike in ceasefire violations by Pak this year: Government data
An officer of the Indian Army and two soldiers were killed after Pakistani troops fired on their post along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district today, around 200 km from Srinagar.

Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh and Sepoy Pargat Singh were injured during the ceasefire violation by Pakistan and died from their injuries. Two other personnel were also wounded and are under medical treatment, the army said.

The firing took place around 12:15 pm, news agency PTI said, quoting an officer. The army said it had retaliated "strongly and effectively" against Pakistan army posts.

Major Ambadas, 32, belonged to the Bhandara district of Maharashtra and is survived by his wife Avoli Moharkar.

Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, 34, came from Amritsar in Punjab and is survived by his wife Kuljit Kaur and a daughter.

Sepoy Pargat Singh, 30, belonged to Karnal in Haryana and is survived by his wife Ramanpreet Kaur and a son.

"Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh and Sepoy Pargat Singh were brave and sincere soldiers. The nation will always remain indebted to them for their supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the army said in a statement.

"Martyrdom of Indian Army soldiers will not go in vain," it added.

Ceasefire violations by Pakistan saw a huge spike this year. According to the Home Ministry's records, 724 ceasefire violations were reported till October this year while last year there were 449.

Opposition parties have blamed the centre's high-pitched rhetoric for keeping the border tense among other factors.

While there were about 461 ceasefire violations reported between 2010 and 2013, between 2014, when the BJP government took over, and October 2017, there have been as many as 2,161 such incidents.

The number of casualties in such incidents also went up after 2014. While between 2010 and 2013, 17 security personnel were killed, the figure shot up twice in next four years between 2014 and 2017 to 43.

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