7 Indian troops killed in retaliatory fire
RAWALPINDI, November 23 (NNI): Pakistan army said Wednesday that Indian cross-border firing has martyred three soldiers and injured several others on the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region.
An army statement also said that ‘seven Indian soldiers are confirmed dead in retaliatory fire.’ ‘Three Pakistani soldiers valiantly embraced martyrdom at Line of Control while responding to Indian unprovoked firing,’ a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said. Earlier on Wednesday, Indian troops targeted a passenger bus near the LoC, killing nine people and injuring 11 others in Lawat. Police officials in the area have also confirmed the death toll.
Jamil Mir, Superintendent of Police in Neelum Valley told media that the bus was heading to Muzaffarabad. In a separate incident of Indian shelling in Nakyal and Tatta Pani, one person was killed and seven others injured.
Contact between the DGMOs of Pakistan and India was established later on Wednesday, said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The Pakistan Army DGMO demarched his Indian counterpart regarding the earlier targeting of a civilian bus on the Pakistani side of the disputed border.
‘We reserve the right to respond at the time and place of our choosing,’ said Pakistan’s DGMO, added the ISPR statement. The latest incident of cross-border firing comes just a day after the Indian army claimed three of its soldiers were killed along the LoC and threatened Pakistani forces of retribution.
The Indian army also claimed that the body of one of the dead soldiers had been ‘mutilated.’ The Foreign Office however rejected the claim, saying that the ‘reports are a fabrication and a blatant attempt to malign Pakistan’.
NNI/Agencies
