Three civilians were killed and three others wounded when India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) resorted to unprovoked firing in Azad Kashmir along the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday in a fresh violation of the ceasefire agreement.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a woman and her daughter were killed in a mortar attack in Mandhol while another civilian died in Khoi Ratta when BSF carried out unprovoked firing.
Unprovoked firing from the Indian side continued on Tatta Pani, Batal and Nakyal sectors too, the ISPR added.
Pakistan befittingly responded to the unprovoked firing.
Shelling began in the Battal sector at about 1:35pm, with Indian troops using both small and big arms and targeting civilian settlements in the area, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mir Abid in Poonch district.
“A mortar shell landed on the house of one Zakir Hussain Shah in Mandhol village, killing his 45-year-old wife Kulsoom Fatima and 6-year-old daughter Aamina, on the spot,” SSP Abid said, adding that Shah’s brother Nazakat, 30, was critically injured.
He said that another man, Ashfaq, was killed near a place known as Mehndri Bridge.
Elsewhere in the same sector, the SSP said, a 62-year old man, Rafique Awan, and a housewife Rabia were also injured.
Pakistan lodged protest with the UN observers’ group over the deaths of civilians.
Pakistan lodges protest with Indian high commissioner:
The Foreign Office meanwhile summoned Indian High Commissioner JP Singh and registered a strong protest over his country’s continued violations of the Line of Control and Working Boundary ceasefire agreement.
On Sunday, six people, including two women, were injured and at least 25 houses and three vehicles were completely or partially damaged in shelling in the Battal, Madarpur and Darra Sher Khan sectors.
On Monday, these sectors remained calm, but Nakyal sector in the neighbouring Kotli district was badly hit, leaving three persons dead and another five wounded.
Elsewhere, three persons were injured in sporadic shelling in Neelum valley, towards northeast of Muzaffarabad on Monday.
Tensions have flared between the two nuclear armed states after the killing of a Kashmiri separatist Burhani Wani by Indian forces in July. The occupied valley has been under the grip of a curfew and protests have been placated using pellets which have rendered scores of people blind.