The latest ceasefire violations -- the tenth and eleventh in less than a week -- has come a day after an Army jawan was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.
A cloudburst in a remote village in Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir, resulted in four fatalities and six injuries. Rescue operations are underway, and the district administration is monitoring the situation.
The operation to track down a group of hiding terrorists, who are responsible for the killing of nine soldiers, in Bhatti Durrian forest in Mendhar along with Surankote forest in Poonch and nearby Thanamandi in Rajouri district entered the 21st day on Sunday, the officials said.
According to officials, 46 deaths have been recorded in terrorism-related violence since January this year in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and nearby Reasi district.
The condition of the injured is stated to be stable, the officials said.
People along the Line of Control and International Border in the Jammu region continue to live under the shadow of death, with unexploded mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops still embedded in farmlands and residential areas even though hostilities have stopped for nearly a week. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Despite the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan, locals describe the border areas as a 'death trap'. Sixty-two-year-old Balvinder Singh, who returned to his home in Pargwal sector on May 14, recounted a narrow escape. "Two shells exploded in our compound, damaging our house. Three more landed on our farmland. We were terrified and told our family to stay away from the fields until the Army could help," Singh told PTI. Army engineers later came to the village and safely defused the unexploded shells, bringing a temporary sense of relief. "Fear is writ large on the faces of people to these death traps in border hamlets", he said. Scenes of destruction are evident rooftops torn apart, broken houses, windows punctured by shrapnel, and carcasses of cattle lying in pools of blood. The acrid smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air. Sardar Gurmeet Singh faced a similar ordeal. His family could not re-enter their home as a live mortar shell had sunk into the compound in a village close to the International Border. "The army's bomb disposal squad removed it after four days, allowing us to finally enter, back home," he said. Indian Army engineers have launched a sweeping clearance operation across border districts, defusing over 80 unexploded shells in the past five days -- including 6 in Pargwal, 19 in Rajouri, 42 in Poonch, and 12 along the IB. "These shells, mostly 120 mm calibre, have a range of 15 to 30 km and pose a serious threat to both civilian and military targets," an Army officer said. "Many of them were fired by Pakistan during recent hostilities." On May 7, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, conducting precision strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. The subsequent retaliation by Pakistan pushed the region to the brink of war. From 7 to 10 of May, 27 civilians were killed and over 70 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Jammu region. Farid Din Gujjar, a resident near the border, expressed fear about returning to his fields. "Several shells created deep craters in our paddy land. We cannot resume work until all unexploded ordnance is cleared. It's a death trap," he said. Army units, in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, have evacuated high-risk zones and issued stern warnings to residents not to touch any suspicious objects or unexploded shells. In one major operation, 42 live shells were safely destroyed in the Poonch villages of Jhullas, Salotri, Dharati and Salani. "All safety protocols were followed. The shells posed a serious danger to local lives," an Army spokesperson said, calling the effort a 'continued commitment to protect civilians and restore normalcy'. Poonch saw the vast majority of deaths due to shelling. Security officials said that Pakistan used a mix of mortar shells, armed drones, and missiles during the shelling spree, specifically targeting civilian habitations and border towns in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. As clearance operations continue, the border residents are slowly returning to their homes, but with caution, fear, and lingering uncertainty about shelling that may yet happen in the future.
Suspected drones were observed along the International Border in Samba district of Jammu region on Monday, while armed forces downed a 'surveillance drone' in Punjab's Jalandhar district.
Written in Urdu, the posters sought the help of the people in tracing the terrorists, saying "those who killed the innocents do not have a place in our country".
A defence spokesman in Jammu said miscreants fired three rocket propelled grenade rounds at Nangi Tekri posts in the Krishna Gathi area in the Poonch district on Saturday morning
Five passengers of a mini bus were killed and seven others wounded in a deadly improvised explosive device blast at Marah village in the frontier Poonch district of Jammu region on Tuesday evening.
The last journey of the five jawans martyred in the attack by Pakistan soldiers began in the evening from Poonch town with Army officers laying wreaths on their caskets.
In the first ceasefire violation this year, Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday morning.
There was a ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army on a forward post in Mankote-Balnoie sector.
Indian Army soldiers patrol the Line of Control at Pallanwala in Akhnoor ahead of Independence Day.
People in several districts of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat spent an anxious night as authorities enforced blackouts amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan.
On Thursday, April 20, 2023, five soldiers were killed and another was seriously injured after their vehicle caught fire following a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch.
Villagers living near the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu are on high alert following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, preparing underground bunkers and accelerating crop harvesting. The incident has heightened security concerns despite a renewed ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021. Residents are demanding swift action against the perpetrators and their handlers.
A fresh exchange of fire took place on Thursday between terrorists and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, where four Army personnel were killed and two others were injured in an encounter, officials said.
Less than a week after five soldiers were killed in an ambush at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmi, Pakistan on Monday violated the bilateral ceasefire in the Poonch sector along the Line of Control, according to a defence spokesperson.
This marked the sixth consecutive night of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC, amidst heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad following a recent terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
Hundreds of residents along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir were evacuated to safer zones after Pakistani shelling following Indian airstrikes on terror targets in Pakistan. The shelling killed 12 people, including four children and two women, and injured over 50. The evacuations come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead. The government has provided temporary shelter for those evacuated.
Pakistani troops on Saturday evening violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control at two places in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district of Jammu region.
Army troops could not open fire on the terrorists due to the presence of Pakistani posts nearby, they said. Drone footage of the area showed a blood trail, indicating that the terrorists had suffered injuries due to the fall.
A Defence spokesman said the ultras opened heavy fire on search parties resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other personnel.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi are on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated ceasefire for the fourth time this month by opening firing on Indian posts along the Line of Control in the Poonch district.
Six persons were found dead on the spot and five more succumbed to injuries while being evacuated from the scene.
The exchange of fire occurred even though the directors general of military operations of India and Pakistan spoke over the hotline on Tuesday amid rising tensions between the two countries over the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
The vehicles came under attack in the Savni area on the Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road around 3.30 pm.
Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
The soldiers' families were inconsolable as they waited for them to come home one last time.
With respect and gratitude we honour the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Operation Sindoor.
Indian troops did not retaliate to the 'deliberate provocation' to avoid civilian casualties across the border.
They said a sniper is believed to have targeted the truck from the front before the other terrorists sprayed bullets and lobbed grenades on it.
For the ninth consecutive night, Indian and Pakistani troops engaged in small arms fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, continuing a pattern of heightened border tensions. The skirmishes, initiated by Pakistani troops in violation of the ceasefire agreement, have led to a tense situation along the LoC and International Border (IB). The incidents come in the wake of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists. Civilians residing near the border have begun preparing their bunkers, anticipating potential escalation. Despite a recent hotline conversation between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, where India cautioned Pakistan, the ceasefire violations persist.
A statement from the Army's Northern Command said its personnel have been conducting 'relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month'.
Heavy rains lashed wide parts of Jammu and Kashmir over the past couple of days, triggering landslides at many places and raising the level of water bodies.
The intense shelling from across the border also prompted the authorities to suspend class work in nearly half a dozen government-run schools falling within the firing range in Poonch district.
The fierce gunfight was going on in the area with the induction of more troops to neutralise two terrorists trapped at the spot, they said.
The army early on Thursday foiled an infiltration bid by terrorists on the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu region.
