Pakistan resorts to 'unprovoked firing' on the LoC

Pakistani troops resorted to “unprovoked firing” on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Mendhar sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district late on Wednesday night, which the Indian Army described as “yet another ceasefire violation".

“There was unprovoked firing from the Pakistani side on Indian positions in the Mendhar sector (240 km northwest of Jammu) late last night. We also retaliated and firing went on for over an hour,” an army officer said.

There was no loss of life on the Indian side.

"It was covering fire to push in militants. It amounts to yet another instance of ceasefire violation," the officer said. India and Pakistan had agreed to a truce on the LoC in November 2003.

The army was conducting searches to find out if any militants had managed to sneak in, the officer said.

There have been more than 250 ceasefire violations by Pakistan since 2006 in which about a dozen security personnel were killed on the Indian side and 59 were injured.

“The guns were silent on the LoC from 2003 to 2006 except for an aberration here and there,” the officer said, adding that the majority of the violations were in Poonch district of Jammu region, besides Kupwara and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley.