646 incidents of ceasefire violations along IB, LoC till February 23: Minister

New Delhi: There were a total of 646 incidents of ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pakistan International Border (IB) as well as the Line of Control (LoC) between January 1 and February 23 this year, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said on Wednesday.

"There have been 27 encounters with terrorists in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since August 5 last year to February 23 this year. Forty-five terrorists were neutralised and 7 security force personnel were also martyred," the minister stated.

On August 5 last year, the Central government had revoked Article 370 to take away Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"In addition, 132 cases of cross border firing from August 5, 2019, to December 31, 2019, and 41 cases of cross border firing between January 1 and February 15 this year along the international border and LOC in the union territory of J&K were committed," Naik stated.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, the minister said that during 2019, there were 1,586 incidents of ceasefire violations at the LoC and Indo-Pakistan international border.