Indian Army jawans patrol near the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. (File photo)
In major escalation in border skirmishes, Pakistani troops violated ceasefire for the third time in 21 hours along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, forcing the Indian army to retaliate.
"Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked small arms and automatic weapons firing on Indian posts along LoC in Hamirpur sector of Poonch district around 1730 to 1810 hours today," Defence PRO Lieutenant Colonel Manish Mehta said in Jammu today.
Army troops retaliated with equal calibre weapons, he said, adding that there was no loss of life or injuries to anyone in the firing.
Pakistani troops also fired mortar shells in the forward posts and civilians areas, as per the reports.
This was the eighth ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in the past six days and ninth in the month of August.
Earlier this morning, Pakistani troops also resorted to firing in Balakote forward belt in Mendhar sector of Poonch. There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the firing, the PRO said.
Yesterday, there was unprovoked small arms and automatic weapons firing on Indian posts from Pakistan along the LoC in Hamirpur sector of Poonch at around 9 pm.
On August 13th, Pakistani troops fired with small arms and automatic weapons on forward posts along LoC in Bhimbher Gali (BG) sector of Poonch, injuring one jawan. Similarly, there was heavy firing along with mortar shells, small arms and automatic weapons by Pakistan Rangers on five BoPs and civilian areas along the IB in Arnia-R S Pura areas of Jammu on August 12th.