Srinagar, September 1
An Indian soldier was killed and another hurt while thwarting an infiltration bid and two ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in the strategic Keran sector in north Kashmir.

Three Pakistan soldiers were also reportedly killed in the retaliatory fire by the Army. The exchange of fire was going on till the last reports came in.

“Pakistani troops twice violated the ceasefire by shelling forward posts in the last 24 hours,” defence spokesman Lt Col J S Brar said, adding that heavy mortars and machine guns were used.

“They first opened fire at around 8 pm last evening. The Indian troops retaliated and in the subsequent exchange of fire that continued for around 50 minutes, a jawan was injured. His condition is stated to be safe,” Brar said.

“At 11 am on Thursday, the Pakistani side resorted to heavy firing again. The exchange of fire was continuing till last reports came in,” the spokesman added. According to reports, at least three Pakistan Army personnel have been killed in the retaliatory fire.

“On Tuesday evening, an infiltration bid from across the border was also made. It was effectively foiled by our alert jawans,” Brar said. One JCO, Naib Subedar Gurdayal Singh, a resident of Ropar in Punjab, was killed in the operation.

The ceasefire violations in north Kashmir sectors are believed to provide a cover to armed infiltrators. The Keran sector in the Kupwara district is a major ingress route of the militants from across the border and the fresh ceasefire violations come close on the heels of a major infiltration bid reported from the adjacent Gurez sector on August 20.

At least 13 infiltrators were killed in that encounter.

Infiltration attempts are mainly made during the summer months after snow on high mountains along the LoC starts melting.