The jawans were killed in firing by Pakistani forces in Keran sector. (Representational Image)
Two soldiers, members of an advance party of the Army, were killed in an attack near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Keran sector on Wednesday afternoon. The Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry soldiers were part of a three-member scout team walking ahead of the main party patrolling the border area in north Kashmir in heavy rain and hazy conditions when they came under fire.
Sources told NDTV that the jawans could not detect the attackers due to the difficult weather conditions. The soldiers were on area domination patrol between two army posts.
Wednesday's ceasefire violation comes days after a deadly attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists on Amarnath Yatra that killed 7 pilgrims.
According to preliminary reports, the attackers are suspected to be Pakistani army snipers who fired from across the border in another instance of ceasefire violation. The soldiers were killed 800 metres from the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan. There have been 29 army fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir this year, soldiers guarding the border or on anti-terrorist operations.
There have been nearly 225 ceasefire violations by Pakistan army this year alone.
Last week, Indian forces had strongly retaliated mortar shelling by the Pakistani side in the state's Poonch region that killed two civilians. Pakistan promptly summoned a senior Indian diplomat to protest the firing but was bluntly told that the Indian forces had only "responded appropriately" to Pakistan violating the ceasefire.