MUZAFFARABAD, May 21: Indian forces resumed shelling from across the Line of Control in different sectors of Azad Kashmir and the working boundary along Sialkot on Tuesday, killing two persons and injuring at least 20 others, including nine women, officials said.
Along the Sialkot working boundary, “the Chenab Rangers retaliated effectively, killing four Indian armymen and destroying Indian heavy ammunition depot near Akhnoor-Saamba sector,” the sources added.
Along the LoC, the shelling began at 6am in Chamb sector and later in Samahni sector in the southernmost Bhimbher district, which are regular targets of the enemy forces for the past many days.
Bhimbher Deputy Commissioner Fayyaz Ali Abbasi told Dawn by telephone that the shelling was heavy during which Indian troops used machineguns, mortars and artillery, and targeted civilians.
A shell, he added, hit a house in Malkay village in Chamb sector, killing a man identified as Qaiser Mehmood and injuring three other members of the family — his brother Nasir Mehmood, sister Yasmin and father Mohammad Akbar.
Seven other persons, he further said, were injured in Kherowal village and Malkay villages, and were identified as Sarwar Bibi, Imtiaz, Shamim Akhtar, Rasheed Bibi, Said Mohammad, Rashida Bibi and Sumaira.
In the neighbouring Samahni sector, the DC said, Aziz Begum, and Kaneez Akhtar were injured in Kotli Gujran village.
Many houses were partially or completely damaged and more than 50 cattle killed in both sectors, he added.
Later, the shelling also began in Abbaspur sector in district Poonch after almost a silence of a week along the otherwise tense Line of Control in the area.
Pooch Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Hussain told Dawn by telephone that the villages of Chafar, Polas, Chatra, Taroti, Lasri Mang in Abbaspur sector were targeted by the Indian forces for more than one hour with small and big arms. The shelling later subsided, he added.
He said seven persons, identified as Mohammad Riaz, Mohammad Khan, Riaz, Ehsan, Arif, Raza Begum and Imtiaz, were injured and admitted to a hospital. Shelling also damaged two houses in Taroti village.
Officials said shelling was also reported from Bhedi sector in district Bagh but no losses were reported from there.
Our Sialkot correspondent adds: A villager was killed and another seriously injured in Indian mortar shelling at villages near the Sialkot working boundary on Tuesday.
Sources told Dawn that Shamas Din (24) was sitting in the courtyard of his house at Noola village of Charwa sector when a mortar shell hit him. He died on the spot.
In border village Thathi Khurd of Sucheetgarh sector, Faqeer Saeen (55) was standing in front of his house when, some Indian mortar shells hit him, injuring him seriously. He was admitted to the Sialkot CMH.
According to official sources, the Indian forces intensified motor shelling on a number of Pakistani border villages along the Sialkot working boundary on Tuesday, badly damaging more than 17 houses, a mosque and two school buildings; besides, killing several cattle.
“The Chenab Rangers retaliated effectively, killing four Indian armymen and destroying Indian heavy ammunition depot near Akhnoor-Saamba sector,” the sources added.
LANDMINE HURTS 2: Two Pakistani women Maqsooda Bibi and Bushra Bibi were seriously injured in a landmine blast in bordering village Karol of Sialkot working boundary’s Chaprar sector. They were passing through the fields when they hit an “anti-person” landmine, which went off injuring both of them.
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