India shells, fires on Pak villages along LoC

NAROWAL: Indian Border Security Forces resorted to unprovoked firing at residential areas along with Line of Control late on Saturday night, ARY News reported.

The Indian forces fired shells and opened fire in Batal and Madadpur sectors along the LoC. Pakistani Army also responded befittingly to the unprovoked firing from BSF.

Last week, a woman was killed and seven others injured in Indian firing on the Working Boundary.

Read: Woman killed, 7 injured in Indian firing along border

On Wednesday, two more civilians embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) and eight other were injured in Chaprar Sector on the working boundary due to Indian firing.

Indian forces had violated the ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary with Pakistan 221 times in the year 2015,

As tension escalated in the region recently, cross-border exchange of fire was increasingly becoming frequent between the nuclear-armed rivals.

On October 25, Indian troops opened fire along the border in Bhimber and Chuprar sectors again, killing a civilian, identified as Waqar.

Pakistan later in the day lodged a protest with India and the United Nations Military Observers group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) over the killing of civilians and repeated cross-border firing by Indian forces.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh and questioned him over ceasefire violations by BSF.

As Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across their de-facto border in Kashmir, Pakistan has repeatedly told India to refrain from creating tensed circumstances for the soldiers along the border.

Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months, with India blaming militants from Pakistan for a raid on an army base in its part of disputed Kashmir in September that killed 19 soldiers.