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22 Indian Troops Killed
While Laying Mines

1-7-2

ISLAMABAD - As many as 22 Indian troops were killed in an an accidental land mine explosion on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday, as Pakistan dismissed an Indian army report that its forces had shot down an unmanned Pakistani spy plane, saying the Indians had lost a remote-control spy aircraft of their own.

Meanwhile, three Indian troops were killed as Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged mortar fire on the working boundary on Sunday. The official sources said the retaliatory mortar fire by Chenab Rangers ki Earlier, India army sources claimed the spy plane entered held Kashmir at roughly 3:45 pm (Indian time) and flew eight kilometres into the district of Poonch where it circled over army installations. The plane was eventually shot down by an army helicopter and crashed on the Pakistani areas, they added.

A Pakistani military spokesman dismissed the report. "This propaganda is totally baseless and concocted," Pakistani spokesman Brigadier Saulat Raza said. "Actually they themselves have lost one remotely piloted vehicle. We haven't lost any aircraft, neither have we violated Indian-held airspace," he said. He said the Indian aircraft had come down in the held territory in the Jammu sector of Kashmir.

Indian and Pakistani troops exchange daily fire across the Line of Control (LoC). A brief artillery and mortar duel erupted at dusk on Sunday in the Neelum valley, 160 km north-east of Muzaffarabad, a Pakistan Army officer said. At least one villager was killed and three were wounded as Pakistani and Indian border guards resumed firing on Saturday night, police and witnesses said. Pakistan said the Indian army fired mortars and shells in the southern Rawalakot sector where hundreds of villagers already have evacuated. Three injured villagers have been taken to a government hospital.

Brig Saulat Raza said: "The Indian Army is firing with mortar guns and artillery in several sectors, targeting the civilian population in Kotli and Bhimber sectors," he told BBC. India said a child was killed and a woman injured in Malavila, 35 kilometres from held Jammu due to exchange of fire. "The firing is not as intense as Saturday but both sides are keeping their heads down," a police official said from Akhnoor.

Indian army posts in the towns of Samba, RS Pora, Kathua and Palanwalan reported exchanges of more than 15,000 rounds of small arms fire. At least three civilians were injured on Sunday in Poonch, 240 kilometres north-west of Jammu, a police spokesman said. One army personnel was killed by the heavy shelling of Pakistan army in Poonch sector this morning while three personnel sustained injuries. -Agencies

Our Sialkot correspondent adds: Three Indian troops were killed as Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged mortar fire on the working boundary on Sunday. The official sources said the retaliatory mortar fire by Chenab Rangers killed three Indian soldiers and destroyed four enemy bunkers in the held Samba sector near the Shakargarh area of the working boundary.

In a related development, the death toll of an accidental land mine explosion on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) rose to 22 on Sunday with five more hospitalised victims dying of injuries, police and eyewitnesses said.

The four soldiers and one civilian died in a military hospital in Amritsar. The number of soldiers killed in the explosion now stands at 18. With heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the last two weeks, Indian army soldiers have been laying land mines along the border. Eyewitnesses said some soldiers were unloading a truck filled with land mines while others were fixing fuses on the mines at the village of Mahwa, about 20 km northwest of Amritsar.

"The soldiers were busy working on the devices when suddenly we saw the truck rolling back. In a second, there was a massive explosion. We just ran to save our lives," farmer Ranjit Singh said and added "The bodies of the dead were flung at least 7-8 meters away." Other eyewitnesses said the truck driver had reversed the truck to let a tractor pass on the narrow road, when it ran over a land mine. The initial blast killed 14 soldiers and three civilians who were in the tractor, police said. At least 15 people, mostly soldiers, were in hospital, five in serious condition, according by doctors.

Civilians whose relatives died in the explosion complained that they had not been handed over the bodies. The explosion was so powerful, villagers said it shattered the windows and television screens in nearby houses.
 
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2002-daily/07-01-2002/main/main4.htm


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