Two armed Pakistani intruders were shot dead by Border Security Force (BSF) troops near the village of Rajatal in Amritsar, 40 kilometers from the district headquarters, along the Indian-Pakistani border, in the early Thursday.
A search of the area later revealed an AK-56 rifle, two of its magazines, and 61 actual cartridges; a Magnam rifle (caliber 223, semi-automatic), one of its magazines and 29 royal cartridges; a Norinco Olympia pistol (caliber 30) and two of its magazines; 30 rupees in Pakistani currency; and two PVC pipes (10 feet each).
The incident took place at 2.18 am when troops from Battalion 71 noticed some suspicious movement through the barbed wire fence and between the zero line at the border, BSF officials said.
“Using reflectors, our jaws noticed the movement of some suspects through the barbed fence. Suspects were warned but ignored, prompting the troops to open fire, “said a senior BSF official.
He said that when the area was searched, two bodies were found on the ground. One of the suspects was carrying an AK-56 rifle. A preliminary investigation suggested that the suspects were trying to smuggle some drugs and weapons into Indian territory. He said the two men who were killed were trying to install PVC pipes to pierce the barbed wire for smuggling. They had more accomplices with them who managed to flee by taking advantage of the dense fog, he said. The process to identify the deceased men was underway, he said.
In another incident, which occurred about a kilometer later, the same battalion recovered three packages of heroin (one kilogram each). BSF officials said this incident took place around 2.10 a.m.
This is the second such incident in the past four months on the Punjab border. In August, the BSF shot dead five Pakistani intruders in self-defense after infiltrators opened fire on Indian troops along the international border between India and Pakistan in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab.
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