Jammu, March 6 (IANS): Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy fire across the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district with defence officials calling it was the third ceasefire violation of the day.
“At about 10.30 a.m. today (March 6), Pakistan continuing with its nefarious designs for the third time in a day initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation. There was heavy shelling with artillery and firing of small arms along the LoC in Nowshera and Sunderbani sectors of Rajouri,” Defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said.
Anand added that the Indian Army has been retaliating strongly and effectively.
The firing in the Sunderbani sector had started around 10.30 pm. on Tuesday and lasted till 4.30. a.m., Anand said earlier, when the shelling had temporarily stopped.
Tuesday’s heavy firing between the two armies was reported from Nowshera sector of Rajouri and Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch. A soldier was injured in Kalal area of Rajouri in the firing.
All educational institutions within 5km distance from the LoC in both the districts continued to be shut.
Pakistan intruder held at Gujarat border
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday caught an intruder coming from Pakistan at Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch border, an official said.
The BSF could not confirm the identity of the intruder but said he was a 50-year-old male.
“The intruder was apprehended by BSF personnel early on Wednesday in the alignment of boundary pillar 1,050 in the Rann of Kutch. He was coming from Pakistan side,” a BSF spokesperson said.
The official said the intruder surrendered immediately on the BSF challenge. “We could not recover anything suspicious from his possession.”
Images show madrasa buildings still standing at Balakot
The madrasa run by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) at the Balakot site hit by the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter planes appears to be still standing with no visible damage, as per high-resolution satellite images of the site, says news agency Reuters.
It says at least six buildings were visible on the site on March 4, six days after the air strike, and that the image was virtually identical to an April 2018 satellite photo of the facility.
The satellite images from San Francisco-based private satellite operator Planet Labs Inc are the first high-resolution satellite images publicly available and show details as small as 72 cm.
“There are no discernible holes in the roofs of buildings, no signs of scorching, blown-out walls, displaced trees around the madrasa or other signs of an aerial attack. The images cast further doubt on statements made over the last eight days by the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the raids, early on Feb 26, had hit all the intended targets at the madrasa site near Jaba village and the town of Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” the Reuters report said.
Twelve days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India said it had struck the JeM’s biggest training camp at Balakot killing “a very large number” of terrorists and their trainers.
While Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot, it claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes and that there were no losses on the ground. However, IAF chief B.S. Dhanoa said the IAF planes had hit their target.
