Indian and Pakistani troops on Tuesday halted a 16-hour exchange of fire along the Line of Control (LoC) leading to recovery of the body of a soldier from Rajput Regiment even as the two sides held a flag meeting in a bid to ease the tension.
The body of sepoy Mahesh, who was hit by a bullet from the Pakistani side which started the firing at 1530 hrs on Monday in the Nowgam sector of Jammu and Kashmir, was found from a ditch, defence sources said.
Four Pakistani soldiers were also reportedly killed in the retaliatory fire by Indian forces.
With the firing, which violated the November 2003 ceasefire accord, stopping this morning, local commanders of Indian and Pakistani armies held a 30-minute flag meeting in Teetwal sector.
The Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries had spoken on the hotline yesterday to usher in calm along the LoC.
A defence spokesman in Srinagar said that firing across the LoC lasted 16 hours. Pakistani troops had crossed the LoC yesterday afternoon and asked the Indian troops to vacate an observation post at Khayan area of Nowgam sector.
This led to a war of words between the two sides and a Pakistani trooper fired at the Indian observation post indiscriminately leading to the death of the Indian soldier who belonged to 22 Rajput Regiment.
Faced with the hail of bullets from the Pakistani troops, Indian forces retaliated the fire. The exchange continued throughout the night.
On the casualties on the Pakistani side, the spokesman said, "We have not seen them (the bodies)."
