Army opens fire noticing suspicious movement in Poonch, no retaliation

Soldiers guarding the Mendhar area noticed some movement in the area and opened fire but there was no retaliation, officials said.

Srinagar: With security being intensified along the international border ahead of the G20 meeting starting from tomorrow, the Indian Army opened fire after observing suspicious movement in Mendhar area of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir in the wee hours on Sunday, officials said.

The Indian soldiers patrolling in Keri-Gulutha area of Mendhar suddenly observed some movement in the bordering area during an ongoing search operation at 3:30 am. The soldiers fired a few shots towards the side from where the movement was noticed. "There was no retaliation. No loss of life or injury was reported", officials said. Following the incident, searches have been intensified in the area.

This comes a day after the Indian soldiers shot dead a Pakistani intruder along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch district. Later, during the search operation, IED and a huge consignment of drugs were recovered from the intruder. It was learnt that soldiers patrolling at Mendhar LoC in Pooch were alerted when they detected some movement along the border as the infiltrator tried to enter the Indian side. A search operation was launched and soldiers opened fire leading to the death of the intruder. Later on, an intensified search operation was conducted in the area.

Earlier, a Pakistani intruder was arrested by the Indian Army on Monday after he entered Tarkundi village in Rajouri district. Nothing significant was recovered from him, officials said. A father and his son who had inadvertently entered from PoK were initially detained in Poonch but were later repatriated to Pakistan last month.