13 people killed in heavy shelling by Pak, Poonch worst hit

At least 13 people, including four children and a soldier, were killed and 57 injured as the Pakistan Army carried out one of the most intense artillery and mortar shelling in years targeting forward villages along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir after the Indian missile strikes against terror infrastructure in the neighboring country and PoK, officials said on Wednesday.

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Hundreds of residents were forced to take refuge in underground bunkers or shift to safer places as the indiscriminate shelling by Pakistan destroyed houses, vehicles and various buildings, including a Gurdwara, and created panic among the border residents in the worst-hit Poonch district and Rajouri in Jammu region and Baramulla and Kupwara in north Kashmir.

The officials said the Indian Army is responding to the shelling in a befitting manner, resulting in many casualties on the enemy side after several of their posts engaged in firing were destroyed.

This is the first time that such an intense shelling has been witnessed after the ceasefire agreement was renewed between the two countries on February 25, 2021.

Poonch district accounted for all 13 deaths, the officials said, adding 42 people were also injured and the condition of two of them was stated to be serious.

The shelling was reported from all along the LoC in Poonch, including Balakote, Mendhar, Mankote, Krishna Ghati, Gulpur, Kerni and even Poonch district headquarters, resulting in damage to dozens of houses and vehicles, they said.