The Indian Army said on Wednesday a soldier was critically injured and seven others sustained minor injuries during training on the Line of Control in Mendhar sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said soldiers of the Barasingha Battalion of the 12 Madras regiment were on a patrol in Dera Dibsi area along the hilly LoC when the incident occurred around 10.45am.
“Today in a training event accident in the forward area in Poonch sector, one soldier got seriously injured and a few others suffered minor injuries. Detailed army version to follow soon. There was no IED blast,” said defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.
The injured have been flown in a helicopter to Northern Command’s hospital at Udhampur.
A defence official confirmed the death of a soldier and injuries to seven other troopers in the explosion but maintained that it was not an IED blast.
Pakistani terrorists are known to regularly plant IEDs along the LoC and the international border with an aim to inflict casualties on the Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF).
There have been numerous instances of such IED blasts, a fact accepted and corroborated by the then Northern Army commander Lt Gen KT Parnaik. He had admitted on January 15, 2013, that frequent “accidental blasts” in KG sector of Poonch were actually mines planted by Pakistan to target and eliminate Indian soldiers.
Pakistan Rangers had violated the ceasefire in Samba sector on Tuesday evening. They fired small arms weapons at a post in Bainglard area of Samba sector, prompting the BSF to retaliate in equal measure. There were no injuries on the Indian side.
First Published:
May 22, 2019 14:04 IST
Source: HindustanTimes