NAROWAL: A teenage girl was killed and a little boy injured in firing by Indian border guards on Pakistani villages along the Working Boundary late on Friday night.

According to reports, Indian forces continued unprovoked firing by light and heavy guns and shelled mortar bombs on villages in the Shakargarh sector.

Sources said 16-year-old Sumera, a resident of Chak Nehal village, suffered bullet injures and died on the spot. Eight-year-old Mursalim was injured in Chak Bhika village. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Unprovoked firing by Indian troops on civilian population in Pakistan has been continuing for the past few days. Personnel of Chenab Rangers kept retaliating the Indian shelling.

Among areas affected by Indian firing are Korol, Sakmal, Chak Bhika, Lehdi Kalan, Chak Nihal, Nangal and Behal Dogar.

The sources said that the Indian firing had badly damaged several houses and killed many heads of cattle in the affected areas.

They said majority of people in these areas had now moved to safe places.

The DCO of Narowal, Syed Najaf Iqbal, said the district government had set up a relief camp in Chak Amru for people displaced by the Indian firing. Food, medicines and other necessary items were available at the relief camp, he added.

AFP adds: Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire along their tense border on Saturday, killing four people, including a teenage girl, and forcing hundreds to flee their homes in the latest round of deadly clashes.

The shelling intensified on Saturday, necessitating “evacuation of hundreds of people” living in the border areas of Samba and Hiranagar, said Rajesh Kumar, a senior police official in India-held Kashmir.

An Indian woman was killed and 10 others were wounded, Mr Kumar said.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play