MUZAFFARABAD, May 29: At least seven people were killed and four others were injured as Indian troops shelled a major town and several villages of Azad Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control on Wednesday, police and residents said.

The Indian troops, they said, hit the town of Hajira, having a population of around 16,000, with mortar guns at about 7.45pm. “First two shells landed on a mountain around the town, and then one hit a private jeep at the end of the bazaar, killing its driver and his colleague on the spot,” a resident told Dawn by telephone from Hajira.

Two more shells landed some 20 yards ahead of the first one, killing two more people and injuring four others, of whom one succumbed to wounds. The dead were identified as Nur Mohammad, Sajid, Gulfraz, Saghir, and Sardar Khan.

Police said two more people died in Darra Sher Khan village in Hajira sector around the same time. They were 12-year-old Saiqa, daughter of Bashir and Mohammad Farooq, son of Ghulam Hussain.

Heavy shelling also resumed in the Samahni sector in the southernmost Bhimbher district early Wednesday.

SIALKOT: Five more Pakistani villagers were killed, and eight were seriously injured by heavy Indian artillery and mortar attack on two villages - Bajragarhi and Merajkey - near the Sialkot working boundary, last night.

The names of those who died instantly are Tufail Anwar 43, Nasreen Bibi 37, her two young daughters Nadia and Sobia, and Saadia Bibi 22.