Two Rangers reported killed in firing
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 5: There had been no let up in the acts of ceasefire violations on the International Border (IB) in Samba sector. Today, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Rangers exchanged firing in the afternoon, reportedly resulting into the death of two Rangers.
However, no casualties were reported on Indian side in the firing in which medium to small arms fire was used.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Rangers started firing on Indian positions in broad day light at 4 pm today at forward village of Suchetpur in Samba sector. As the Rangers continued firing for sometime in violation of ceasefire, the BSF jawans retaliated to silence their guns.
Exchange of firing continued for about half an hour in which small and medium fire arms were used.
Preliminary reports revealed that two Rangers were reportedly killed in retaliatory firing by the BSF but there was no official confirmation of the killings.
Sources said the Rangers could be seen carrying dead bodies of their colleagues from their forward post of Tandar to the nearby camp. The firing stopped at about 5 pm. However, no infiltration attempt was visible during ceasefire violation by the Rangers.
During past few days, a series of ceasefire violation and infiltration attempts have been made by the Rangers and the militants respectively in Samba sector. The BSF jawans of 182 battalion deployed along the IB in Samba sector have effectively thwarted infiltration attempts on the border.
A BSF jawan was seriously injured in firing by the Rangers at Regal Post in Samba sector last week. He had succumbed to injuries after remaining hospitalized for a couple of days. Days later, the BSF jawans had gunned down an intruder in the same sector and foiled infiltration bid by the ultras.
In addition to these two incidents, there had been other occasions also when the Rangers have violated ceasefire along the IB in Samba sector during past few days.
Sources said the firing by the Rangers was totally unprovoked and most of their attempts were aimed at facilitating infiltration by the militants in which they have failed for past quite sometime.
It may be mentioned here that a number of militants continued to camp in the forward posts of Rangers along the International Border awaiting an opportunity to sneak into this side. However, strict surveillance by the BSF all along the IB has not allowed the militants to sneak into this side. The Night Vision Devices installed by the BSF on the borders have also been helping the security personnel a lot in detecting movement of the infiltrators.
On the Line of Control (LoC) in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch also, the militants have not been able to intrude this side due to security arrangements made by the Army. Reports were that large group of militants had been camping across the LoC awaiting an opportunity to sneak in but were finding the going very tough.
Sources said the security and Intelligence agencies feared that infiltration attempts from both LoC and IB could go up in the next few days in view of upcoming Amarnath yatra.
"The militants could go all out to target Amarnath yatris. However, the administration was in the process of making tight security arrangements to thwart the designs of the militants with effective deployment all along the National Highways, base camps, tracks and the holy cave shrine.
