Two Army soldiers killed as Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in Kupwara

Two Indian army solders were killed in a sniper attack from across the line of control (LoC) in north Kashmir on Friday, police said. Officers said the ceasefire violation took place from the Pakistan side of LoC around noon when they fired on army posts at Jumgund area of Kupwara.

“An army man was initially martyred in the sniper attack along the LoC following which there was some exchange of fire between the two sides,” said superintendent of police, Kupwara, Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar.

He said that another soldier who was injured in the attack succumbed at a hospital later.

The police officer said that both the slain soldiers were junior commissioned officers and identified them as Subedar Raman Thapa and Subedar Gamar Thapa. Both belonged to the army’s 2/8 GR unit.

On December 6, an Indian soldier was killed when the Pakistani army opened fire across the LoC in Machil area of Kupwara, according to officials. The Pakistanis had used automatics and mortar shells. A residential property was also damaged in Pakistani shelling in Kamalkote area of Uri in Baramulla district.

At least 109 people, including 56 security personnel, were killed in 2,855 incidents of cross-border firing and ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces along the border in Jammu and Kashmir between January 2016 and July this year, an RTI response has revealed.

The data showed a steep increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces this year, compared to 2016 and 2017 along the international border (IB) and LoC. Till July, there were 1,435 ceasefire violations by Pakistan as compared to 449 in 2016 and 971 in 2017.

First Published: Dec 21, 2018 19:00 IST