MUZAFFARABAD: Violence continues to escalate at the Line of Control (LoC) as three people were killed — one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and two in India-held Kashmir — as a result of firing on Monday.

In AJK, an elderly man was killed and his son and four others were wounded in heavy shelling by Indian forces.

Haveli’s deputy commissioner Chaudhry Kashif Hussain told Dawn by telephone that the Indian troops resorted to shelling at about 6am in Nezapir and Digwar sectors, using both small and heavy arms.

The shelling was fierce and continued intermittently till noon, he said.

Mohammad Deen, 70, was killed and his 25-year-old son Mohammad Jamil injured in Digwar village, he said, adding that Tasneem Bibi, 34, her 12-year-old son Aqib, and Mohammad Javed, 35, were also injured in Digwar village. Wali Moham­mad was injured in Keirni village of the Nezapir sector.

The injured, he said, had been admitted to a military-run health facility in Forward Kahuta, district headquarters of Haveli.

Mr Hussain said that soon after the beginning of shelling he had ordered closure of all education institutions in the vulnerable areas to avert any loss to students and teachers.

Residents told Dawn that the areas along the LoC were gripped by panic due to intense shelling from across the divide.

“After the shelling started, no one could sleep in the vulnerable villages,” said Mahmood Rathore, a local journalist.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also confirmed the casualties due to India’s unprovoked firing on civilian population in what it refers to as Rakhchikri sector.

“Pakistan Army effectively engaged Indian posts targeting civil population (in AJK),” the ISPR said, adding that there were reports of destruction of two Indian army posts across the LoC.

On Friday, two civilians and a soldier were killed and another three soldiers injured in the Nezapir sector of Haveli district, while another civilian was injured in the Abbaspur sector of neighbouring Poonch district.

According to AFP, two children were killed in India-held Kashmir.

Indian authorities said 12 more civilians, including two women and two teenage girls, were wounded.

A police statement said firing from Pakistan had killed a 10-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2017