Hours after their violation of the Pakistani airspace, Indian troops on Tuesday evening resorted to indiscriminate shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC), leaving at least four civilians dead and 11 others wounded in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), officials said. The machinegun, mortar and artillery shelling began at about 5:30pm simultaneously in Kotli, Bhimber and Poonch districts and was ‘intense and indiscriminate’, with civilians ruthlessly targeted by Indian forces without any provocation, the officials said.
Kotli district is the worst hit area as all four of its sectors sharing the LoC came under heavy attack, according to Deputy Commissioner Dr Umer Azam. According to Dr Azam, one of the shells fell on a house in Mohra Dharoti village of Nakyal sector and as a result, a woman and her two children were killed and another three children wounded. He identified the deceased as Motiyan Begum, 55, Zarina, 20, and Gulfraz, 8, and the injured family members as Umar Farooq, 18, Sarfraz, 13, and Sagheer, 7. Elsewhere in the same sector, 15-year-old Umer Mushtaq, Abdul Rahman, 40, Shamim Akhtar, 41 were injured in Saloor Tarkundi village and Khaqan, 40, in Balakot village, the deputy commissioner added. In Khuiratta sector of the same district, Shehnaz Begum, 40, lost her life, while Adnan Aslam and his sister Sumera Aslam, and Munir Begum were injured in Khanpur Seri village. Shelling also took place in Tattapani and parts of Charhoi sectors, but no casualties were immediately reported from there, Azam said.”
Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2019.
