Pak Shelling Kills Nine Civilians in J&K's Poonch: Officials

SRINAGAR: At least, nine residents including a woman were killed, and nearly 50 people injured as Pakistani troops targetted Indian forward positions and civilian areas at several places along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir with heavy artillery fire early Wednesday. Properties- both defence and private - were damaged in the Pakistani strikes.

The officials said that soon after the Indian Armed forces carried out 'Operation Sindoor' against nine "terror infrastructures" in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), the Pakistani Army and Rangers resorted to arbitrary firing including artillery shelling from posts across the LoC and IB opposite J&K.

The Indian Army said, "Nine innocent civilians lost their lives in indiscriminate firing and shelling" and that it is responding in "proportionate manner."

The worst hit was Poonch where all the nine deaths took place and scores of residential houses and other structures were damaged in the Pakistani shelling.

Several private homes were also hit in the artillery firing from across the LoC in Poonch, Uri (Baramulla district) and Karnah-Keran ( Kupwara district). While nine civilians were killed in Poonch, 50 others were injured elsewhere, four of them in Uri sector. In Poonch, a J&K forest department office was also damaged. The video of burning homes in Karnah soon went viral on social media.

The dead include two women and a brother-sister duo. The victims have been identified as Muhammad Zain Khan, 10, and his sister Zoya Khan, 12, Balvinder Kour alias Ruby, 33, Shakeela Bi, 40, Muhammad Akram, 40, Amrik Sigh, 5

Earlier, a Defence spokesman said that altogether, nine sites were targeted in Pakistan and PoJK . "Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted, " he said, adding "India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution. These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered. We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable. There will be detailed briefing on ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, later today".

Meanwhile, in view of the prevailing situation, airports in parts of northern India, including Dharamshala (DHM), Leh (IXL), Jammu (IXJ), Srinagar (SXR), and Amritsar (ATQ), have been closed until further notice.

In J&K, all schools, colleges and other educational institutions will remain shut today (Wednesday) in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch (Jammu region) and various border areas of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore districts in the Kashmir Valley, the divisional commissioner of the twin regions announced.