The BSF said they targeted Pakistani positions intermittently through the night
A day after a BSF jawan was killed on his birthday in heavy Pakistani firing, India's top border-guarding force opened up with heavy-calibre weapons and silenced Pakistani mortar positions and bunkers after hitting them through the night.
The BSF said they also foiled an infiltration bid in Jammu's Arnia sector early morning today and shot dead an intruder.
The Border Security Force jawan who died on Wednesday was head Constable RP Hazra, from Murshidabad in West Bengal. He had been with the BSF for 27 years. At the BSF headquarters in Jammu, a final farewell was given to him as officers and jawans remembered him as a brave soldier. His friends and colleagues remember him as a brave man who always led from the front.
"We have retaliated very heavily, the same calibre weapons were used by the BSF as Pakistani Rangers were using. We inflicted heavy losses on the Pakistani side," BSF IG of Jammu range Ram Avtar told NDTV.
The officer said BSF jawans today morning saw a group of people trying to infiltrate to India using the dense fog and low visibility as cover in Arnia sector in Jammu. The BSF shot dead one of the intruders while the rest retreated after facing heavy firing in the dark.
"We noticed suspicious movement at 5:45 am and an alert was issued. The movement was monitored. The moment this fellow entered Indian territory he was challenged and shot dead," the senior BSF officer told NDTV.
Security officials say infiltrators often take advantage of dense fog and low visibility, and so the forces heighten alertness during such weather conditions.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen 880 ceasefire violations this year, the highest in the last seven years along the Line of Control and the International Border.