Indian Army commandos cross Line of Control, kill three Pakistani soldiers in retaliation to Saturday's Rajouri attack

Indian Army commandos crossed the Line of Control on Monday evening and killed three Pakistani soldiers, two days after four Indian Army men, including a Major, were shot dead in an ambush in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri sector, media sources said on Tuesday.

Representational image. Reuters

The commandos crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and killed three Pakistani soldiers, while one was injured in the "action" on Monday evening. According to PTI, the Army conducted the operation along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Rawlakot sector. The strike was conducted by a small group of four-five Indian 'Ghatak' commandos. The small team went around 200-300 metre across the LoC and carried out the strike. The operation lasted for 45 minutes and the team returned to their camp without sustaining any injuries.

According to IANS, sources said it was a "tactical" operation conducted at 6 pm on Monday after the Pakistan military men tried to cross over the LoC, allegedly to plant IEDs on the Indian side of the border.

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DawnNews reported that this act "received a strong response" from the Pakistani side. "The shelling occurred at Rukh Chakri sector in Rawlakot and received a strong response from Pakistani forces," the report said, quoting Pakistani military's media wing the Inter-Services Public Relations. They said it was an "unprovoked heavy cross-border shelling by Indian forces."

"The fire was immediately responded by own troops and the locations were effectively engaged from where the fire was being received. Resultantly the fire stopped. A contact was established on hotline with the Indian side and an immediate flag meeting between the local commanders has been demanded," the release said.

According to PTI, sources said Pakistani soldiers killed in the operation were from Pakistan Army's Baluch regiment and the temporary post targeted by the Indian Army was in an area which Pakistan calls Rukh Chakri sector.

This temporary post of the Pakistan Army was put under extensive surveillance much before the operation was carried out on the instruction of the local commander of the Army unit.

Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Nirmal Singh said that this operation by the Indian Army was a "fitting reply" to Pakistan. "Whenever they dare to do such acts, they are forced to face its consequences," he said, according to ANI.

On Sunday, two Pakistani snipers, who were trying to target Indian soldiers on the LoC, were killed in Indian firing on the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts. The Monday deaths take the Pakistani casualty toll to five in two days.

Sources told IANS that this action was not a 'surgical strike', similar to the one conducted on 29 September, 2016, when Indian Army commandos crossed the LoC to target terror launch pads inside the Pakistan-occupied territory.

The Indian Army said they killed dozens of terrorists and their sympathisers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the covert operation that came nearly 10 days after a terror attack on a military base at Uri near the LoC that killed 19 soldiers on 18 September last year.

The Indian Army has been adopting a "tough" approach in dealing with ceasefire violations and terrorist activities in the last one year. Pakistan has violated the ceasefire 881 times along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir this year, killing 30 people.

With inputs from agencies