Pakistan troops fire at Indians in Kashmir

Pakistani troops opened heavy gun fire on 10 Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, army officials said Sunday.

The Pakistani firing began late Saturday in Krishna Ghati sector in the mountainous district of Poonch, about 250 km from here, and lasted till Sunday morning.

"They used small arms, light machine guns and rockets. The firing was heavy up to 11 p.m. Thereafter it became intermittent and was going on till 7 a.m.," an official said.

Indian troops retaliated "to silence the Pakistani guns", he said.

The army said the usual motive behind such firing is to give cover to terrorists trying to cross the LoC to get into Jammu and Kashmir.

"We are searching the area to find if any infiltrators sneaked in," said the official.

In another incident, a soldier on patrol near the Salotri post in Krishna Ghati sector was injured in a landmine blast Saturday evening.

The army blamed it on a stray landmine but people in Mendhar town told IANS that these landmines were planted by "Pakistani agents" to inflict casualties on the Indian Army.

Aijaz Kazmi, a journalist in Poonch, said: "Never have Indian soldiers stepped over their own mines so frequently in this area. It suggests some mischief by forces in Pakistan."

Four such cases have happened since Nov 17 in which one army porter and three soldiers were injured.

More than 50 cases of ceasefire violations have taken place this year.