MUZAFFARABAD: Two civilians and one army soldier were martyred in unprovoked Indian shelling in a village along the Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations said the Indian troops, in a latest ceasefire violation, targeted civilian population with heavy weapons at Rakachikri in Rawalakot, killing a man and a woman.

An army patrol, which reached the area to help shift the civilian victims, also came under Indian fire. As a result, Naib Subedar Nadeem was martyred and three soldiers sustained wounds, the ISPR said.

“The Pakistan Army gave a befitting response to Indian army posts, which engaged civil population,” and there were reports of casualties on Indian side, the ISPR added.

The village, where the two civilian were killed, is hardly 150 yards from the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC) in an area referred to as Rawalakot. However administratively it falls in Haveli district.

Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Kashif Hussain told Dawn over phone that the village Keirni Galli, where the incident occurred was within the range of vision of the Indian troops.

He identified the martyred as Zahid Hussain, 16, and Robina, 26.

Earlier in the day, another civilian, identified as 25-year-old Chaudhry Arshad, was wounded in Polas Kakuta village of Poonch district in Indian shelling.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2017