Army rejects Pak's claim of killing eight Indian soldiers in firing

New Delhi: Rejecting a report published by the Pakistani media that "eight Indian Army personnel were killed in the cross-border firing" along the Line of Control (LoC) and an Indian soldier was taken into custody by Pakistani forces, India Army sources on Thursday said these were "completely false and baseless".

According to army sources, "One soldier from 37 RR with weapon inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control, following which Pakistan has been informed by Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh over the hotline."

Stating that such inadvertent crossing by army and civilians are not unusual on either side, sources added, "They are returned through existing mechanisms. As regard report of killing of eight Indian Army personnel reported in sections of Pakistan media the report is completely false and baseless."

Quoting security sources, Pakistani daily the Dawn on Thursday reported that soldiers from the Indian Army were killed in the episode of cross-border firing.

In his show 'Capital Talk' on Geo News, Hamid Mir said, "Fourteen Indian soldiers were killed in two sectors." Defence analyst Major General (Retd) Ijaz Awan, who was on his show, confirmed his claim.

An Indian soldier by the name Chandu Babulal Chohan was taken into custody by Pakistani forces, however, there is as yet no official confirmation of this claim, reported the Dawn quoting sources.

The Pakistani media witnessed such claims on Thursday after the Indian armed forces conducted surgical strikes late on Wednesday night on terror launch pads across LoC to neutralise terrorists planning to infiltrate into the Indian territory.

Addressing a press conference here, Director General of Military Operations Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said "significant casualty was caused to terrorists during the operation".

Lt. Gen. Singh said, "Based on very credible and specific information which we received yesterday that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and in various other metros in our country, the Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launch pads."

"The operations were basically focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country. During these counter terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them. The operations aimed at neutralizing the terrorists have since ceased. We do not have any plans for continuation of further operations. However the Indian armed forces are fully prepared for any contingency that may arise," he added.

"I have just spoken to the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations and explained our concerns and also shared with him the operations we had conducted last night. It is India's intention to maintain peace and tranquillity in the region, but we can certainly not allow the terrorists to operate across the Line of Control with impunity and attack the citizens of our country," he said.

The DGMO said, "It has been a matter of serious concern that there has been continuing and increasing infiltration by terrorists across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. This is reflected in the terrorist attacks at Poonch and Uri on September 11-18, respectively. Almost 20 infiltration attempts have been foiled by the Indian Army successfully during this year. During these terrorist attacks and infiltration attempts we have recovered items including Global Positioning Systems and stores which have had Pakistani markings."