An army officer was killed when Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir's Kupwara district on Tuesday amid an escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan.
The Indian Army retaliated after Pakistani troops started intermittent firing on the Badal post two days after the collapse of planned talks between the national security advisers of India and Pakistan over including Kashmir in the agenda and Pakistan’s insistence on meeting Kashmiri separatists.
The army said the soldier was a junior commissioned officer. "It was an aimed killing. Effective retaliation also started from the Indian side as well," said an official.
The deceased JCO was hit by a Pakistani sniper and later succumbed to injuries, an army spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the identity of the slain JCO and other details of the incident will follow in due course.
On August 15, five civilians were killed and at least 20 were injured when Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire for the seventh consecutive day by firing at several Indian posts and civilian areas along the LoC in Poonch district.
Ceasefire violations along the border jumped after India and Pakistan decided to resume talks after the Ufa agreement in Russia in July, with the intensity increasing after the dates for the NSA level talks were decided.
{{/usCountry}}Ceasefire violations along the border jumped after India and Pakistan decided to resume talks after the Ufa agreement in Russia in July, with the intensity increasing after the dates for the NSA level talks were decided.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan violated the ceasefire 192 times along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir till July 26, the government recently told Lok Sabha.
Read:Pak violates ceasefire again, fires along LoC in Poonch
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