BSF trooper injured as Pakistan violates ceasefire along border in Jammu

A Border Security Force (BSF) personnel was injured when Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing on Indian posts in violation of a ceasefire agreement along the border here on Wednesday, officials said.

The BSF troops also retaliated but the casualties on the Pakistani side were not known immediately, they said.

At about 2.35 am, an incident of unprovoked firing in the Akhnoor area from across the border happened and which was befittingly responded by the BSF. One BSF personnel sustained injuries in Pakistani firing, a spokesperson of the border guarding force said.

He said the troops are on high alert and keeping a strict vigil all along the International Border and Line of Control.

The ceasefire violation between the two countries has been very rare ever since India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021. Last year, a BSF jawan was killed in Pakistan Rangers firing in the Ramgarh sector, the first loss of life on the Indian side in more than three years.

The latest ceasefire violation comes days ahead of the first phase of the three-phase assembly elections scheduled on September 18. The second phase of the elections will be held on September 25 followed by the third phase on October 1.