An Indian soldier on Monday succumbed to his injuries sustained during cross-border firing by Pakistani troops in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. Rai Singh, a head constable of the Border Security Force, was injured along with three other personnel in the firing on Sunday night. An Army officer told PTI: “Pakistani army resorted to heavy cross-border firing in the Rajouri sector, in which four of our soldiers have been injured.”

This comes a day after a BSF jawan and a civilian were injured in cross-border firing in the region. Two houses were also damaged when the Pakistani Army targeted Indian Army posts and civilian areas in Nowshera and Sunderbani sectors of Rajouri.

The Indian Army on November 17 denied Pakistan’s claim that 11 Indian soldiers had been killed along the Line of Control on November 14, the same day Islamabad had alleged that seven Pakistani soldiers had died in cross-border firing. The Army’s Northern Command said there had been no casualties on the Indian side during firing by Pakistan on November 14,15 and 16, calling the neighbouring country’s claim false.

This was the first time that Pakistan had admitted to casualties on its side. In September, the country had rebuffed claims of the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army along the LoC as “cross-border firing”. In October, too, Islamabad had denied claims by the BSF that it had killed seven Pakistani Rangers. Reports of ceasefire violations by Pakistan have increased since the surgical strikes were conducted on September 29.