MUZAFFARABAD: Hours after the Indian Air Force payload fiasco in Balakot, Indian troops resorted to indiscriminate shelling from across the restive Line of Control (LoC), killing at least four civilians and injuring 11 others in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said.

The machinegun, mortar and artillery shelling began simultaneously in Kotli, Bhimber and Poonch districts at about 5.30pm and was “intense and indiscriminate”, with civilians being ruthlessly targeted by the Indian forces without any provocation at the dividing line, they said.

Kotli district was the worst-hit area as its all four sectors along the LoC came under heavy attack, said Deputy Commissioner Dr Umer Azam.

According to him, one shell fell on a house in Mohra Dharoti village of Nakyal sector that left a 55-year-old woman and her two children dead and another three children wounded. He identified the deceased as Motiyan Begum and her children Zarina, 20, and Gulfraz, 8. Umar Farooq, 18, Sarfraz, 13, and Sagheer, 7, were injured.

In Saloor Tarkundi village of the same sector, Umer Mushtaq, 15, Abdul Rahman, 40, and Shamim Akhtar, 41, were injured, while Khaqan, 40, was wounded in Balakot village, Mr Azam added.

In Khuiratta sector of Kotli district, Shehnaz Begum, 40, lost her life, while Adnan Aslam and his sister Sumera Aslam and Munir Begum were injured in Khanpur Seri village.

Tattapani and parts of Charhoi sector were also hit during the shelling but no immediate report about any casualty was received from there, the deputy commissioner said.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2019