Four die as Pakistani troops opens fire at civilians

Officials in Jammu said the Pakistan Rangers resor-ted to unprovoked small-arm, medium-arm and mortar fire to target 22 border outposts of the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Border (called “working boundary” in Pakistan) in Arnia and Ranbir Singh Pura areas of Jammu district.

 

“Thirteen villages were also targeted by the Pakistan Rangers, killing two civilians and injuring six others, including a BSF jawan,” they said. Two civilians were killed on Friday. Ranbir Singh Pura sub-divisional police officer Devender Singh said that over 3,000 people living in border villages were evacuated under a plan enforced on Saturday after the ceasefire violation by Pakistan. 

 

 

However, in Sialkot, Pakistani officials claimed the BSF had violated the November 2003 ceasefire agreement by firing mortars and automatic weapons. They said two civilians, including a woman, were killed and six others injured in shelling by Indian forces early on Saturday.

 

BSF IG Rakesh Kumar said, "Our jawans took positions and responded with equal calibre weapons to Pakistani firing, which resulted in a heavy exchange of fire till 7 am today (Saturday). The police said that in Jora farm area, a civilian, Akram Hussain, and his son Aslam were killed and three other family members injured when a Pakistani shell exploded inside their house after tearing through the roof. Both BSF and police officials termed the latest cross-border firing as the "heaviest unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and shelling by Pakistan Rangers this year along the IB on the Jammu frontier, in violation of the 2003 ceasefire agreement".

 

In their counter-claim, Pakistani officials said Indian border guards started firing in Charwah sector of Sialkot at around 1 am (local time). As a result of the heavy firing, Imdad Hussain, 60, was killed in Jagran Gari area and a woman was killed and her two daughters injured in Khadaral village. Three more women were injured when mortars fired by the BSF landed in Bina Sulehrian, they claimed, and added the Pakistan Rangers retaliated with heavy gunfire and that this was the second incident of cross-border firing from the Indian side in a week.

 

The BSF also said that the Pakistan Rangers fired 82-mm mortars, besides automatic weapons, to target 22 border outposts and civilian areas along the IB in Arnia and Ranbir Singh Pura from 00.30 am on Saturday. "This was the heaviest unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and shelling by the Pakistan Rangers this year along the IB on the Jammu frontier," it added.

 

safer places, reports said. Jammu district magistrate Ajit Kumar said five members of the same family were injured of whom the father and son died. He confirmed a BSF jawan had also been injured.