courtesy  HT NOV 14
India hits Pak targets after shelling at LOC

Several visuals on Friday showed multiple Pakistani bunkers and other positions going up in flames in retaliatory Indian action. ANI

Rahul Singh and Mir Ehsan

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi/Srinagar : At least eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and 12 injured on Friday after the Indian Army targeted Pakistani positions across the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir with artillery guns and anti-tank guided missiles in response to heavy shelling by the neighbouring army in which eight Indians — four security personnel and four civilians — lost their lives, people familiar with the developments said.

Pakistani ammunition dumps, fuel dumps, and terror launch pads were among the targets destroyed by the Indian Army, they added.

The heavy exchange of fire — triggered by ceasefire violations by the Pakistani army in multiple sectors on the eve of Diwali — has turned the spotlight on the LoC at a time when Indian and Chinese forces are locked in a border dispute along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive Ladakh sector, where a disengagement plan is under discussion but has made no significant progress so far.

Three Indian soldiers, a Border Security Force (BSF) sub-inspector, and four civilians including a woman and a seven-year-old boy, were killed in Pakistani shelling in Uri, Naugam, Keran and Gurez sectors in north Kashmir, the officials said, asking not to be identified. Three Indian soldiers were injured.