Mortar firing practice goes wrong, 9 BSF men injured in Rajasthan

This is the second such incident in Rajasthan in 2017 --- after four personnel were injured in a similar manner about two months ago.

Nine personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) were injured on Tuesday during mortar firing practice near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan along the India-Pakistan border.

A BSF jawan patrolls the International Border on the outskirts of Jammu. (PTI)

The incident took place at about 8:30 am when a 51 mm mortar fell short of its target at the forces’ firing range in Kishangarh.

While six personnel suffered injuries due to the blast of the ammunition, three others have minor injuries. All of them are stable now, a senior BSF officer said.

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered into the incident, they said.

The troops were participating in a firing exercise.

Officials said all the injured personnel were air-lifted to a hospital in Jodhpur.

This is the second such incident here this year after four personnel were injured in similar circumstances in March.

Few days after this, six men of the paramilitary were injured in similar circumstances during mortar firing exercise at its centre in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.

The BSF is deployed in Rajasthan as part of its task to guard the India-Pakistan International Border (IB).