Two women and two girls from the same family were injured as Indian troops shelled a village in Kotli district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from across the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday, officials said.

In a brief statement, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, confirmed the incident.

"India's unprovoked firing on (a) civilian house in Khuiratta along the LoC left two girls and two women injured," said the ISPR, adding, the victims were evacuated by army troops to a nearby hospital.

The incident occurred at about 10:50am in Janjot Bahadar village of Khuiratta sector, according to an official in Khuiratta police station.

"They (Indian troops) fired mortar shells, one of which landed in the courtyard of a house, leaving two women and two girls wounded," the official told Dawn by telephone.

The victims were identified as Kausar, 65, wife of Mohammad Karim, Ayesha, 15, daughter of Mehboob, Yasmeen Begum, 40, wife of Javed and Samra, 10, daughter of Asad.

They were given treatment at an army-run health facility in the area.

Pakistani troops responded to India's firing, the ISPR said.

On Saturday, 64-year-old Nazarat Bibi was injured in Balakot village of neighbouring Nakyal sector, when Indian troops fired at her while she was performing ablution in the wee hours in the courtyard of her house

The heavily militarised LoC has been the scene of the worst ever skirmishes and artillery duels between Indian and Pakistani troops in a grievous breach of the historic 2003 ceasefire agreement struck by both sides.

The escalations had mounted after an attack by suspected militants on an Indian Army base in Uri on Sept 18, which had left some 19 Indian soldiers dead. India had later claimed that it had conducted surgical strikes on the Pakistani side of the LoC.

According to military and civilian sources, as many as 40 civilians and 15 Pakistan Army personnel have lost their lives to unprovoked and indiscriminate Indian shelling from across the LoC in the ongoing spell of escalations after Uri attack.