Pakistan troops resort to shelling along LoC, International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, Kathua

Pakistani troops resorted to small arms firing and mortar shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Kathua districts, drawing retaliation from Indian soldiers, officials said on Thursday.

Pakistani troops resorted to small arms firing on forward posts along the LoC in Dewar sector of Poonch district on Thursday afternoon, a defence spokesperson said.

Indian troops retaliated and the exchanges lasted for over 20 minutes, the spokesperson said.

Earlier, Pakistan rangers fired mortar shells and opened fire on forward areas along the IB in Pansar, Manyari and Chak Changa in Hiranagar sector on Wednesday night and this continued till morning, officials said.

BSF troops guarding the border retaliated resulting in brief exchanges, they said.

There were a total of 646 incidents of ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pakistan International Border (IB) as well as the LoC between January 1 and February 23 this year, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said on Wednesday.

Over 3200 ceasefire violations by Pakistan troops were recorded in 2019.