Teenaged girl killed in Pak shelling
near border
A 17-year-old girl was killed and four other civilians injured in Poonch
district on Friday during stepped up firing by Pakistan at different places
along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border in Jammu Kashmir.
Identifying the deceased as Jara Akhtar, sources said that she died at
village Gigriyal in Saujjian area in Poonch district during mortar shelling by
Pakistani troops from across the LoC. Five other villagers were also injured as
mortar shells rained on the village, sources said, adding that they included
Ghulam Mohammad, 60, Sher Bagh, 52, Zulfikar Ahmed, 17, and Javed Iqbal, 14.
The shelling which started around 2 pm Friday in Saujjian area came
nearly 36 hours after six civilian including two women got injured and nearly
half a dozen houses damaged in unprovoked mortar shelling by it on civilian
areas in the same area.
Related
A Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Colonel Manish Mehta here said that
Pakistani troops resorted to yet another ceasefire violation targeting the
Indian side with small arms fire in the same area on Friday afternoon. The
firing from across the LoC continued from 2 pm to 3.30 pm, he said, adding that
the Indian army also retaliated. However, there was no casualty or damage on
the side of Indian army.
Meanwhile, sources said that unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops
re-started after a brief halt and this time, they started targeting civilian
areas on the Indian side with mortar shells. Some of the mortars fell on
Gigriyal village causing civilian casualty, they said, adding that a few houses
were also damaged.
There was panic in the village with people having fled to safer places
in view of Pakistani troops targeting them with mortars for the second time
since Wednesday night when six people including two women had got injured and
nearly half a dozen houses damaged.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Rangers also resorted to unprovoked small arms fire
on two forward Indian positions – Pittal Post and Tent Guard, along the
international border in Arnia sector late this evening. The BSF also retaliated
and the exchange of fire between the two sides was continuing when reports last
came in late in the night.
The latest spate of ceasefire violations have started less than 24 hours
after both US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
during nearly two hour long meeting between them in Washington, had committed
to “joint and concerted efforts that include dismantling safe havens for
terrorists and criminal networks, disrupting financial and tactical support for
Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, D-company and Haqqani network”.
The unprovoked mortar shelling by Pakistan has also come after a lull of
over a month as earlier in August this year, its troops had been continuously
resorting to heavy firing and mortar shelling on civilian areas not only along
the LoC, but also along the international border in Jammu and Samba districts.
The Pakistani firing, which BSF top officials described as heaviest since 1971
Indo-Pak war, had also led to migration of people from various villages in R S
Pura, Arnia and Ramgarh
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/pakistani-troops-violate-ceasefire-on-third-successive-day/#sthash.cfquNLwZ.dpuf
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