Hurt in truce breach, soldier dies

Jammu, January 24

An Army soldier, who was critically injured in cross-border firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district last week, succumbed to injuries at the command hospital in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Sunday, a defence spokesperson said.

He is the third Army personnel to have died in ceasefire violations by Pakistan this month.

"The Pakistan Army had resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the LoC in the Sunderbani sector on January 18, which was responded to strongly by Indian troops. In the incident, Naik Nishant Sharma of 10 JAK RIF was critically injured and was under treatment at command hospital," the spokesperson said.

"Naik Sharma was brave, highly motivated and sincere. The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the spokesperson said. Earlier, two Army personnel were killed in separate ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts on January 1 and 21. Last year, Jammu and Kashmir recorded 5,100 instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC, the highest in the past 18 years with an average of 14 cases daily. In these violations, 36 persons, including 24 security personnel, were killed and over 130 injured. — PTI