NEW DELHI – An Indian soldier was killed due to gunshot wound at the same military base in northwestern border state of Punjab where four soldiers were killed in a shooting incident a day earlier.
The Indian army, in a statement, said the soldier at Bathinda Military Station was thought to have committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle.
“There is no connection whatsoever” to the killing of four soldiers by unknown attackers on Wednesday, it added.
“The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier,” the statement said.
It said the solider had returned to the job from leave on April 11, adding that he was rushed to a military hospital, where he pronounced dead.
A day earlier, an incident at the military base in northern India resulted in the deaths of four soldiers.
The event did not seem to be a terrorist strike, according to Bathinda’s top police official, GS Khurana, who spoke to Indian local media channel, NDTV.
Since last month, when authorities began looking for fiery Sikh separatist preacher Amritpal Singh, Punjab has been on edge.
The desire for the establishment of Khalistan, a distinct Sikh nation, which prompted deadly conflict in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s, has helped Singh garner a sizable following in recent months.
After evading a massive police dragnet involving thousands of officers and a state-wide internet outage that lasted for several days, he is still at large.
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