Armyman killed in heavy shelling by Pakistan along LoC

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was killed on Tuesday (October 22) as Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling and small arms fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K’s Rajouri and Poonch districts. According to sources, the JCO — whose identity was not immediately known — was deployed at Nowshera sector’s Kalal area.

Also, the heavy shelling by the Pakistani troops for nearly an hour left students of nearly half a dozen schools stranded.

Sources added that Pakistani troops initiated small arms fire in Mendhar and Balakote areas around 11.30 am, and by 1.20 pm they started intense mortar shelling as well.

During the shelling, Phoolan Jan, 55, of Golad in Mendhar got injured. She was working at a maize field near her house at the time.

The Indian army also destroyed three unexploded mortar shells in Mendhar area which had been fired by Pakistan in the past two days.

On Monday (October 21), Pakistani troops had resorted to mortar shelling and small arms fire along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. Sources had said that Pakistani troops initiated the ceasefire violation in Qasba and Kerni areas of Poonch around 3 pm. The “unprovoked” firing killed two Indian soldiers and a civilian in border Kupwara district.

Three JeM terrorists killed in J&K encounter

Meanwhile, three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants were killed in the Tral area of south Kashmir in an encounter with security forces, Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said. The militants were allegedly responsible for the killing of two brothers, hailing from the Gujjar community, in Kashmir in August this year, he added.

(With inputs from agencies)