MUZAFFARABAD: At least three civilians were killed and another eight injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday after Indian troops resorted to “intense and indiscriminate” shelling from across the restive Line of Control (LoC), officials said.

All casualties occurred in different villages of Neza Pir sector of Haveli district “where shelling began at about 12:30pm and came to end at 5pm, without any pause”, said Mohammad Zaheer, a disaster management officer at the office of deputy commissioner Haveli.

“Indian troops used mortars as well as medium artillery, targeting civilian populations in Kairni, Rakh Chikhri, Chanjal Bala and Mandhaar villages. The shelling was intense and indiscriminate,” he added.

Khalid Mahmood Kiani, a police official based in district headquarters Forward Kahuta, told Dawn that shells hit several houses. In one house in Kairni Mohri village, shelling caused the death of three and injuries to two members of a house, he said.

Latest ceasefire violations have pushed death toll to 47

The deceased in that house were identified as Ghulam Mohammad, 54, son of Lal Deen, his 12-year-old daughter Maryam Bibi, and 10-year-old Haider Ali, son of Mohammad Khalil, he said, adding, Ghulam Moham­mad’s wife Reh­mat Jan, 50, and another family member Mohammad Manzoor, 55, son of Moha­mmad Akbar, were injured.

In the same village, Mr Kiani said, Naseeb Jan, 33, wife of Abdus Subhan, and her four-year-old son Sarfraz were also injured.

Elsewhere, Amna, 22, wife of Mohammad Tariq and Saf­eena Bibi, 20, wife of Moham­mad Arif were injured in Man­dhaar village and Naseeb Jan, 21, and Farri Bibi, 18, daughters of Khan Mohammad, were injured in Kairni Wasti village.

He said that all injured persons had been shifted to Forward Kahuta where they were admitted in a military-run health facility.

In the neighbouring Poonch district, a girls’ higher secondary school was twice targeted by the Indian army with small arms in Tetrinote village of tehsil Hajira but there was no loss of lives, a police official said.

“They resorted to firing first at 10am and then again at 12noon. However, soon after the first attack, the school was closed and students and teachers were sent home,” the official added.

Syed Shahid Mohyiddin Qadri, secretary civil defence and state disaster management authority told Dawn that the latest ceasefire violations had pushed the civilian death toll in the current year to 47.

Apart from the deceased, another 236 civilians had sustained injuries in the ongoing year, he said.

According to Mr Qadri, some 50 houses had also been destroyed and 369 houses and nine shops partially damaged in Indian shelling.

Apart from that, 11 cattle sheds, four schools, two health facilities, one mosque and 12 vehicles had also suffered partial damages, he said.

Villagers had also lost at least 83 cattle head in enemy shelling in the current year, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2019

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