Jammu, Sep 18 (Inditop.com) Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were in hospital here Friday with serious injuries after unidentified men in Pakistan fired at their border post, triggering retaliatory firing by Indian security forces.
Constables Bandip Gogoi and Rajinder Singh were in visible agony at the Government Medical College. Both were wounded in the Thursday evening incident. Officials could not say if the attackers were Pakistani forces or Islamist militants.
Both men were at the Nikowal border post, about 30 km west of Jammu, when firing erupted Thursday. Gogoi, who is from Assam, was hit in the back and Rajinder Singh, from Rajasthan, took a bullet in his right eye.
Their stunned Indian colleagues immediately retaliated. After a lull, the firing resumed Friday morning, leading to further Indian retaliation. But no one else was injured, officials said.
Gogoi and Rajinder Singh were rushed to the hospital. Gogoi was Friday warded in the emergency wing unable to speak due to acute trauma.
“A bullet hit his back and it has still not been taken out,” said Gogoi’s colleague Shrikant Pawar. A doctor said the pros and cons of removing the bullet was being discussed.
Rajinder Singh’s right eye was bandaged with the bullet still inside. “He has been referred to specialists,” the doctor said.
A senior BSF official told Inditop that the Indian side retaliated after the first bullet hit the post Thursday evening.
“After last night’s lull there was firing again at the same post to which we have again retaliated,” he said.
The BSF was trying to ascertain the source of the firing. It was unclear if it was done by militants trying to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir or by the Pakistan Rangers, who guard the border.
“The preliminary assessment points more to militants trying to infiltrate to this side,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The incident took place along the International Border between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
India has erected a barbed wire fence inside Indian territory to check infiltration along the 220-km international border in the Jammu region as well as the 720-km Line of Control (LoC) dividing the state between India and Pakistan.
The BSF guards the international border while the army is deployed along the LoC.
The BSF has stepped up security around the post that came under fire. Security forces also quickly began searching vehicles in Jammu at random to detect possible infiltrators.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of some militants sneaking (into India). There are reports of militants stepping up infiltration and planning strikes around the festival season,” said a police officer here.
The Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr is on Monday while the Hindu festival of Navratra starts Saturday. BSF and police officials have been camping in the Nikowal area since Thursday evening.
BSF officials said a check of the three-tiered barbed wire fence showed “no breach. But there will be a closer look at the fence once we are sure that firing has stopped”.
The officer added: “If it was fire from Pakistani Rangers, then it can be termed as yet another ceasefire violation.”
