Border Security Force constable Gurnam Singh on Saturday night died from injuries received during a cross-border firing incident with Pakistani forces, ANI reported. Doctors attending to Singh at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu said he died at approximately 11.30 pm while being treated for bullet wounds to his head received during the incident in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Rajinder Thappa said the hospital was going to shift the injured constable to the All India Institute of Medical Science in Delhi for treatment at the request of his parents. The members of Singh’s family called on the central government to build a hospital dedicated to the treatment of BSF personnel.
Seven Pakistani soldiers and one militant were killed during the incident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Thursday night, according to the BSF. However, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations on Friday denied the Indian security force’s claims, and said Pakistani rangers had “befittingly responded” after the Indian side “resorted to unprovoked fire/shelling at the working boundary in Shakargarh sector”.
India has said that there has been an increase in ceasefire violations after it carried out surgical strikes on “terror launchpads” along the Line of Control on September 28. Officials reported breaches on October 3, 4 and 5 along the border in the region. On September 18, militants had attacked an Indian Army installation in Uri, killing 19 soldiers. India had accused Pakistan of being involved in the attack, but Islamabad has dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
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