Eight civilians injured in heavy firing by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control near Jammu

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Jammu, Oct 24, 2013 (NDTV): In the latest incident of ceasefire violation, Pakistani soldiers opened fire from across the border in Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Eight people have been injured in heavy firing that is on in three different locations.

The injured have been brought to the government medical college in Jammu; five of them are from a one family.

The firing began this afternoon. Hours later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on his way back from two-nation tour of Russia and China, said he was disappointed with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and asked him to recognise that what was happening on the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) is not good for the two nations.

"Let me say I am disappointed because in the New York meeting (between them last month) there was a general agreement on both the sides that peace and tranquillity should be maintained on the border, LoC as well as IB and it has not happened. It has come to me as a big disappointment," Dr Singh said.

The Defence Ministry says it has compiled more than 200 ceasefire violations this year, more than all the other violations since 2003.

50 frontier posts were targeted in Kashmir on Tuesday night in violence that the Army described as among the worst since a ceasefire agreement was agreed upon a decade ago for the Line of Control (LoC) or de-facto border that runs 740 km.

The Home Minister, who visited the region on Tuesday, said more soldiers from the Border Security Force are being sent to the International Border. The Army guards the de-facto border or Line of Control in Kashmir while the Border Security Force patrols the international border that is not disputed by either country and runs along Gujarat and Punjab.