MURREE, a hill station in the West Punjab, was bombed by an RIAF (Royal Indian Air Force) aircraft at 11-50 p.m. on Thursday, Aug 19, says a Press note issued by the Pakistan Ministry of Defence in Karachi yesterday [Aug 20]. Dawn’s West Punjab Correspondent, who visited the scene of bombing … telephoned late last night that the plane made two attacks dropping 500-lb bombs, first near the convent and the British Cemetery at Pindi Point and the second time at a place called Mallote Sattian, hardly six miles from Murree. … [A]ccording to unofficial reports several persons were injured. The people displayed great sense of discipline and within a few minutes all precautionary measures were taken.

Dawn’s West Punjab Correspondent reports: Two 500-lb bombs which fell in the British Cemetery near the convent blew up several graves and left two gaping craters in the graveyard. A tombstone which was blown up bore the name “W. Willy, son of George Robinson, died 1888.” One of the nuns of that convent, in an interview, said: “… We saw the plane dive in the moonlit night and this was immediately followed by terrific explosions… .”

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2023