BSF head constable killed in cross-border firing in Rajouri

SRINAGAR: A BSF personnel was killed and six others were injured in Pakistani firing from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

Exchange of fire along the Line of Control and the international border in the Jammu division has been going on for nearly two months now, which has forced many villagers in the border districts to either move into government camps or find shelter at their relatives or friends’ places.

According to a senior BSF official, Pakistan once again started unprovoked firing in the Krishna Ghati sector of the Poonch-Rajouri range on Sunday evening, in which five BSF personnel were injured. One of the injured, head constable Raj Singh of Rohtak of Haryana, succumbed to injuries on Monday morning.

The other injured are being treated at the army hospital and are out of danger. An army personnel and a civilian in Mendhar area were also injured, he said.

“Our men were injured inside the bunker in Manjakote area of Rajouri. The firing in this area continued for around four hours till 10:30 pm,” the official said.

The government ordered the closure of all schools in the affected villages near the LoC in the Rajouri-Poonch Range, to avoid any civilian casualty.

Since India carried out surgical strikes on terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir on September 28, there have been 285 incidents of firing and shelling along the border in J&K, in which 26 people including 14 security personnel were killed.