- Indian troops crossed the LoC on 25 December and killed three Pakistani soldiers of the 59 Baloch regiment and injured another, say intelligence sources
- A team of five ‘ghatak’ commandos crossed 200-300 metres into Rakh Chakhri, Rawalakot, sources said
- Army sources said the attack was in retaliation to the killing of three Indian soldiers and an Army major in a ceasefire violation on 23 December in Keri, Rajouri.
Indian Army troops killed three Pakistani soldiers and injured another after crossing the Line of Control into Rawalakot in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, on Monday, 25 December, ANI reported, quoting intelligence sources.
According to the ANI report, the attack was in retaliation to Pakistani troops killing an Indian Army Major and three jawans in the Keri sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on 23 December.
IANS reported that three Pakistani soldiers were killed when the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid in Nowshera sector of the LoC in Rajouri district late on 25 December.
Pakistan Army Denies Infiltration
Pakistani Media outlet Dawn confirmed in a report that shelling occurred at Rakh Chakri in Rawalakot, leaving three soldiers dead. According to the report, the shelling “received a strong response from Pakistani forces".
Pakistan Armed Forces spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor, has however, denied that any Indian soldier crossed over the LoC. In a tweet on 26 December, Ghafoor said that such claims by the media was to “satisfy its domestic audience”.
In a report in Pakistani media outlet DawnNews, the country’s military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers on 25 December, while maintaining that the soldiers were killed in cross-border shelling.
DawnNews quoted the ISPR as saying that the “unprovoked ceasefire violation,” which led to an exchange of fire between India and Pakistan’s border action forces, was initiated by India.
India Confirms Attack
In an article on 26 December, PTI quoted senior Indian Army officials as confirming that a small group of five ‘Ghatak’(deadly) commandos crossed the Line of Control, approximately 200-300 metres into Rakh Chakhri in Rawalakot around 6 pm on the night of 25 December.
NDTV quoted sources as saying that the attack was a "localised tactical level operation" authorised at the level of a brigadier and could not be likened to the surgical strikes of September 2016. The report quoted sources as saying that the Pakistani unit in question was the 59 Baloch, under the 2 PoK Brigade also called the Rawalakot Brigade of the Pakistan Army.
J&K Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told ANI that the attack was aimed at sending the message that if Pakistani soldiers attack Indian soldiers, they would have to “face consequences.”
Ceasefire Violations
Pakistan’s claim of an unprovoked ceasefire violation by India comes weeks after the Pakistani Foreign Office, in a press statement in Islamabad, claimed that India had committed over 1,300 ceasefire violations in 2017.
Indian Army sources also told IANS that in another incident on 24 December, two Pakistani snipers were shot dead by Indian troops in J&K’s Poonch and Rajouri districts.
The Indian Home Ministry had also claimed that Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement as many as 881 times in 2017, causing the deaths of at 12 civilians, 14 Army personnel, and four BSF personnel.
India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003, with an aim to end incidents of cross-border firing and attacks.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI , IANS, NDTV & DawnNews)
(This story has been updated to reflect the statement of the Pakistan Army spokesperson)
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