Army jawan killed as Pak troops shell forward areas along LoC, IB in J-K

An Army jawan was killed on Monday as Pakistani troops opened fire and lobbed mortar shells at forward areas along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The heavy Pakistani firing and shelling were reported along the LoC in Poonch district's Krishna Ghati sector and Rajouri's Nowshera sector, and along the IB in Kathua district, the officials said.

An Army jawan, guarding a forward post, was critically injured after being hit by cross-border shelling in Nowshera sector, they said, adding that he succumbed to his injuries later.

He is the fourth Army personnel to be killed in Pakistani firing along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch this month. Two soldiers were killed in Pakistani firing in Rajouri district on June 4 and 10, while another soldier fell to cross-border firing in Poonch on June 14.

There has been a spurt in Pakistani shelling along the border in Jammu and Kashmir this year with over 2,027 cases of violation of a ceasefire agreement being reported till June 10.

Earlier, a defence spokesman said, "At about 0330 hours today, Pak army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing of small arms and intense shelling with mortars along LoC in Krishnagati Sector in Poonch district," a defense spokesman said.

Pakistan has been violating the ceasefire agreement three to four times a day in the past fortnight, officials said. Pakistan has violated the ceasefire over 800 times this year.

Meanwhile, Mobile Internet was restored in Srinagar district late on Sunday night, 17 hours after it was snapped in view of an encounter between militants and security forces, officials said.

Security personnel during the encounter with militants at Reban in Shopian district on Sunday Photo: PTI

The Internet on mobile devices was restored at 11 pm on Sunday, the officials said. It was snapped in the district at 6 am after the encounter broke out in the Zoonimar area of the city. Three militants were killed in the encounter.

The operation began late Saturday night and on Sunday, officials said, the trio was killed by security forces in an encounter.

Two of the terrorists were identified as Shakoor Farooq Langoo of Bharthana in Srinagar and Shahid Ahmad Bhat of Semthan Bijbehara, while the third was a youth from Soura. They were affiliated to the banned Hizbul Mujahideen terror group.

When reasoning and emotional appeals failed to convince the terrorists, the police launched the final assault to save civilians in the congested downtown area, eliminating the trio in a smooth operation.

The terrorists, believed to have been behind the killing of two BSF jawans in Soura during Ramzan, were cornered in a house.