M A I N   N E W S

7 hrs, 7,000 rounds: Pak pounds Army posts in Poonch
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria & Darshan Bharti
Tribune News Service

Jammu/Poonch, August 10
Days after the killing of five Indian soldiers in a sneak attack, the Pakistan Army pounded several Indian forward posts in the Poonch sector along the Line of Control (LoC) for over seven hours with heavy firearms, including mortars, on the intervening night of August 9 and 10.

Indian troops retaliated full throttle and the exchange of fire ended today around 4.30 am. "Pakistani troops opened heavy fire on Indian forward posts in the Durga Battalion area of Poonch sector at 10.20 pm firing over 7,000 rounds of heavy ammunition and mortar shells," Jammu-based officiating Defence PRO SN Acharya told The Tribune. He termed it as the "biggest" truce violation by Pakistani troops.

They fired small arms, MMG, HMG and mortars at the Indian posts, prompting a calibrated response from the Indian Army, said Acharya. He, however, said there was no casualty or injury to the Indian soldiers. Sources said Pakistani soldiers targeted the Noorkote, Nakkarkote and Rakhan Wali posts from their Chirikote post on the other side of the de-facto border.