Three people, including two women, were killed and four others injured as India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) unleashed a barrage of gunfire and mortars on civilian population in Zafarwal and Shakargarh sectors along the Sialkot working boundary on Monday.
According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the victims include 18-year-old Azeem from Bore Chak and a woman from Sukhmal village in Zafarwal sector.
Pakistan Rangers are befittingly responding to the Indian aggression, the statement added.
Rangers sources meanwhile claimed that at least five Indian soldiers had been killed in retaliatory firing from the Pakistani side. The claim could not be verified independently.
This is the sixth time in the past six days that Indian troops have targeted civilian population along the working boundary.
Indian troops have reportedly suffered heavy losses in the exchange of fire, said ISPR.
The recent spate of attack comes after heavy and unprovoked shelling by BSF killed a teenage girl and injured a minor in Zafarwal and Shakargarh sectors along the Sialkot Working Boundary on Saturday.
The BSF fired several mortar shells on Chak Nehala village in Zafarwal sector. A 16-year-old girl, Sumera Bibi, d/o Manzur Ahmed, was hit by shrapnel and died on the spot. In Chak Bheka village, in Shakargarh sector, an eight-year-old child, Mursileen, s/o Muhammad Aslam, was critically injured when mortar shells fired by the BSF slammed into a house. He was admitted to the CMH Sialkot, where his condition was stated to be critical.
Further, senior officials of the Chenab Rangers said Indian troops targeted the civilian population in the border villages in Shakargarh sector particularly Bhoray Chak, Sukho Chak, Chekay Chak, Chitar, Sukhmal, Tarapura and Abial Dogar on New Year’s Eve. The Chenab Rangers retaliated effectively and silenced the Indian guns, they said.
Earlier, on December 31, two Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed in cross-border firing with Indian border guards near the Sialkot working boundary spurring a strong protest from Islamabad.