MUZAFFARABAD, June 2: Five more people were killed and at least 16 others were injured, some of them seriously, as a result of unprovoked Indian shelling from across the Line of Control in Azad Kashmir on Saturday night and Sunday, officials said.

On Saturday night, they said, Shireen Begum, 45, wife of Syed Malik Shah, was killed, and her 12-year-old daughter, Asma, was injured in Tachan village in the Forward Kahuta sector of district Bagh.

The other two people, Feroz Deen and Farooq Hussain, were injured in Hajira sector late on Saturday. Shelling in Hajira resumed at 9am on Sunday, injuring Makhan, 60, in Tetrinot village. He died in the hospital.

In Samahni sector of the southernmost Bhimbher district, two people identified as Girdawar Manzoor Hussain, 60, and Shabana, 16, were injured on Sunday. Intermittent shelling continued in Samahni and its adjoining Chhamb sector throughout the day.

In Kotli district, the Indian troops shelled Khuiratta and Charoi sectors throughout the day, targeting as usual the civilian populations, officials said.

Two people were killed and 11 others were injured in Inderla Kotehra village in Khuiratta sector alone. Most of the casualties occurred in the bazaar of the village after 5pm.

The dead were identified as Maqsood, 20, and Hidayatullah Khan, 45, and the injured were Mohammad Ikhlaq, Yaqoob, Ishaq, Shabana, Zubia, Masood Ahmed, 13, Mohammad Sarwar, 45, Sajjad and Samar Razzaq, 12. Two others, Abid Hafiz and Faisal Sadiq, 14, were injured in the adjoining Charoi sector, officials said.

They said one Surriya Begum, wife of Mohammad Ashraf, who was injured in Indian shelling in Behra Kotehra village in Khuiratta sector on Friday, also died later on Sunday.

The town of Tatta Pani in district Kotli was also hit by shells causing damage to shops.

Several cattle were killed and Tatta Pani Bridge was also damaged in the shelling, he said.

According to officials, the latest civilian deaths have taken the toll in Azad Kashmir since last month to 48, while those injured are more than 220.

SIALKOT: A villager was killed, and six others, including two women, were injured by stepped up Indian mortar shelling on Pakistani border village Abiyaal Dogar, Chak Qaziyan of the Sialkot working boundary’s Shakargarh-Narowal sector, here.

According to official sources, some villagers were hit by mortar shells, killing one Muhammad Iqbal instantly and injuring six others.

Official sources confirmed that the Pakistan army and Chenab Rangers, today, thwarted two major Indian attempts to fence the border near Sialkot working boundary’s Bajwat and Jammu sectors, early this morning.

“The Pakistan army retaliated, killing three Indian soldiers, and injuring 12, destroying two Indian posts in Saamba and Zafarwal sectors, six frontline bunkers, and two heavy ammunition depots.

Even today, the people continued to vacate border villages, as more than 600 border villages of both Sialkot and Narowal district have already been abandoned.

Pakistan army has already planted landmines in 25,000 acres in the border area.

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