Army soldier critically injured in sniper attack by Pakistan in Kupwara's Machil sector

A soldier has been critically injured in a sniper attack by Pakistan in Machil sector of Kupwara district, says the army spokesperson, adding that he has been admitted to the 92 base army hospital. In a separate incident, terrorists attacked an army patrolling party in Tral area of Pulwama district, leading to a brief exchange of fire. There has been no report of any loss of life.

The incidents came just a few hours after Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hit out at Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, blaming him for terror activities in the state and killings of Indian soldiers at the border.

"I want to say something to their (Pakistan) army chief. I have also been in the Army and General Bajwa is very junior to me in service. Does the Army teach (you) to kill our jawans at the border? You kill them with sniper. Have you ever been told that you killed people in Pathankot, Dinanagar," Singh said.

On Saturday, an internal investigation into the killing of a Central Reserve Police Force man in Pulwama recently has revealed that he was killed in a sniper attack after being shot at from around 200 meters. Havaldar Chandrika Prassad, who was part of CRPF’s 183 D-Coy, was hit by at least three bullets near railway station in Kakpora area of southern Pulwama district on November 18. 

On November 13, in 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. This was the fourth fatal casualty due to sniping from across the border in four days. On November 12, Army soldier Naik Gosavi Keshav Somgir, 29, died in a sniper attack by Pakistan.

In a similar attack on November 11, rifleman Varun Kattal, 21, was killed after he was hit by a sniper in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district. 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 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.

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.