Another Indian Army soldier killed by Pakistani sniper in J-K; fourth death in four days

In yet another sniper attack by Pakistan, an Indian Army jawan, identified as Lance Naik Antony Sebastian KM, was killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Krishna Ghati Sector in Poonch on Monday. This is the fourth fatal casualty due to sniping from across the border in the last four days. On Sunday, Army soldier Naik Gosavi Keshav Somgir, 29, died in a sniper attack by Pakistan.

According to local reports, in the latest incident, two soldiers suffered critical bullet wounds and were taken to a nearby army hospital. While Lance Naik Antony Sebastian KM succumbed to his injuries, wounded Havaldar Mary Muthu was later airlifted to army’s command hospital in Udhampur.

“Both the soldiers belong to 70 Field Regiment and were attached with 4 MLI,” an army official said.

Lance Naik Antony Sebastian KM, 34, belonged to Manakunnam village in Kerala and is survived by his wife. "The Indian Army has retaliated strongly and effectively on Pakistan Army posts. The martyrdom of the Indian Army soldier will not go in vain," the Army spokesperson said.

In a similar attack on Saturday, rifleman Varun Kattal, 21, was killed after he was hit by a sniper in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district. Kattal was a resident of Mawa-Rajpura area of Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. The incident triggered an exchange of fire between the two sides which also left two BSF personnel injured.

A day earlier, an Army portar lost his life in a similar attack in Akhnoor sector.

On October 21, three soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir light infantry regiment and two heavily-armed infiltrators, believed to be members of the Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistani army, and terrorists, were killed in Sunderbani sector.

On November 6, a soldier was injured when he was hit by a sniper from across the border at Kalal in Noushera sector of Rajouri, while a BSF jawan was injured in a separate incident of firing by Pakistan along the LoC in the Manjakote area of the Rajouri-Poonch sector on Friday.

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The number of ceasefire violations this year by Pakistan has been the highest in the past eight years. The first seven months of this year saw 52 deaths and 232 people getting injured in 1,435 ceasefire violations in the state, according to an RTI reply by the Home Ministry.

(With PTI inputs)

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