Pakistan Rejects India’s Claim of Killing 15 Soldiers

Heavy firing across the border since Thursday evening has killed four civilians and injured dozens.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Pakistan refuted the claim of Indian security forces that they killed 15 Pakistani soldiers in an exchange of fire at the international border.

In response to a Sputnik query, Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations said, “Indian claims of killing Pakistani soldiers at the Working Boundary is absolutely baseless and untrue. The Indian claim is part of their propaganda campaign aimed to hide their losses at working boundary and also divert world attention away from the Kashmir issue.”

Earlier in the day, Indian Senior Border Security Force (BSF) Officer Arun Kumar said that 15 Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory firing and shelling by the BSF. “We have destroyed their OP (outposts) and damaged a few,” he had said.

 

Attacking is in Pak’s nature, we just retaliate. They want to destroy India, but they are ruining their own image: Hansraj Ahir, MoS Home pic.twitter.com/uRdllXy6iR

— ANI (@ANI_news) October 28, 2016

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According to the BSF official, Pakistani rangers started unprovoked heavy firing and shelling in the Kathua Sector of Jammu on Thursday evening. It spread to more sectors such as Hiranagar and Samba and continued till dawn on Friday. The indiscriminate heavy firing targeted 24 BSF posts in which two civilians on each side lost their lives.

Indian officials have said that cases of ceasefire violations have increased in the recent past and the Pakistani army is supporting its paramilitary forces along the international border.