Blast kills 2 Indian Army men near LoC in Jammu

An officer and a soldier of the Indian Army have been killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Naushera sector in Jammu.

The incident took place on Friday when Major Shashi Dharan V Nair and Rifleman Jiwan Gurang were patrolling the track along the LoC with Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in Rajouri district of Jammu, reports The Statesman.

The IED was reportedly planted by the Border Action Team (BAT) consisting of Pakistan Army regulars and Pakistan backed terrorists.

A spokesman of the Army confirmed this to The Statesman.

A soldier was also seriously injured in the IED blast.

The martyred Army Major Shashi Dharan, 33, hailed from Khadagwasla in Pune and is survived by his wife, while Rifleman Gurang, 24, belonged to the Lamahatta district of Darjeeling in West Bengal and is survived by his mother.

Bodies of the martyred soldiers were flown to their native places from Jammu today after the wreath-laying ceremony in Rajouri, a spokesman of the Indian Army told The Statesman.

Pakistan troops have been resorting to unprovoked shelling of the Indian Army installations and civilian areas of the Rajouri and Poonch districts, The Statesman reports.

Earlier on Thursday, a soldier and a BSF jawan were injured due to shelling by Pakistan troops.

Indian Army was strongly retaliating, giving a befitting reply.