Indian firing kills 4 Pakistani civilians

The Pakistan army has said that at least four civilians were killed in Indian firing along the Working Boundary in eastern Punjab province.

"The Indian BSF (Border Security Force) resorted to unprovoked firing of mortars targeting civilian population along Working Boundary in village Bini Sulariyan in Charwa Sector," the army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement late Thursday.

"Four innocent citizens including 2 women embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," the statement said.

Pakistan paramilitary troops befittingly responded on posts targeting civil population, it said.

It is the second time Indian forces fired into Pakistani areas along the Working Boundary in ten days.

Pakistan said on Sept. 13 that at least one civilian was killed in Indian firing along the Working Boundary in Phuklian Sector.

Pakistan and India had declared ceasefire along the Line of Control(LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region and the Working Boundary in 2003. Both, however, routinely accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.

Pakistan's s Foreign Ministry said on Sept. 4 that Indian forces have carried out more than 700 ceasefire violations in 2017 along the LoC and the Working Boundary, resulting in the killing of 30 innocent civilians and injuries to 113, as compared to 382 ceasefire violations in 2016.

The latest incident occurred as escalation along the LoC and Working Boundary has been seen since a militant attack on an army center in the Indian-controlled Kashmir killed 19 soldiers on Sept. 18 last year.

The Indian military blamed the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group for the attack and also pointed fingers at Pakistan. However, Islamabad rejected the charges and suggested an independent investigation

source: xinhua.