JAMMU: Pakistan on Wednesday June 14 violated the ceasefire twice by shelling mortars and firing from small arms on forward posts and civilians areas along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, drawing retaliation from the Indian side, the Army said.

There have been nine ceasefire violations in the past four days and total 12 along the LoC and the IB in Jammu region since January 1 in which one civilian was killed and seven others were injured.

“Pakistan Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics RPG and recoilless rifles from 0930 hours in Nowshera sector along the Line of Control in Rajouri district today,” defence spokesman Manish Mehta said.

“The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively and the firing is presently on,” he said.

Earlier, Pakistan carried out indiscriminate firing from 0500 hours to 0545 hours in Bhimbher Gali sector along the Line of Control (LoC), he said.

There were three ceasefire violations on June 12.

Pakistani Army on Sunday again violated ceasefire by firing from automatic weapons and shelling mortars along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

The Pakistan forces initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatic weapons and mortars from 6:30 am on Sunday on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Naushera sector, a defence spokesman said.

The Indian troops returned the fire strongly and effectively, he said.

This was the second ceasefire violation by Pakistan in the past 24 hours.

The violation comes just days after an attack by a Pakistani special forces team that sneaked across the LoC into Poonch under heavy fire-cover and killed two jawans while losing one of their men.

On Saturday, the Pakistan Army had initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatic weapons and mortars from 11:30 pm to 2:30 am on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Poonch sector.

Earlier on Thursday, in the third such attack this year, a team of Pakistani special forces sneaked 600 metres across the LoC into the Poonch sector and killed two Indian jawans and lost one Border Action Team (BAT) member in retaliatory action.

The Border Action Team (BAT) comprises special forces personnel of the Pakistan army and terrorists.

It had carried out the attack at around 2 pm on an army patrol party in the Gulpur belt of Poonch on 22 June under heavy cover fire by Pakistani troops.

In the firefight, two Indian soldiers — 34-year-old Naik Jadhav Sandip of Aurangabad and 24-year-old Sepoy Mane Savan Balku of Kolhapur — were killed.

The Pakistani BAT members were armed with ‘headband cameras’ to record the attack on the Indian Army patrol.

Earlier, on 16 June, Pakistan violated the ceasefire by firing on forward posts along the LoC in Naushera sector of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing an Indian Army jawan.

There have been 19 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the international border in Jammu region in June in which one civilian also lost his life while seven others were injured.