1 KILLED, 4 INJURED IN J&K FIRING

A civilian was killed and four others were injured when Pakistan troops fired small arms and mortars to target Indian forward posts and civilian areas in Karnah area along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday, the officials here said.

They said that the Pakistan Army violated the November 2003 ceasefire understanding and resorted to indiscriminate shelling and firing in Karnah, prompting a ‘quick and befitting’ retaliation by the Indian troops. This was the fourth such violation by Pakistan troops during the last 48-hours in which several residential houses were also damaged, the officials added.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage to Pakistani army infrastructure in the Indian firing and shelling, the officials said. The J&K police while confirming the civilian casualties and damage to the properties on the Indian side of the de facto border said that the Pakistan troops intermittently resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing, targeting Indian forward posts and civilian areas at Karnah since Tuesday morning. “Several mortar shells fired from across the LoC landed in populated areas on the peripheries of Karnah town killing and injuring residents and damaging their houses,” the police said.

The deceased was identified as 60 year old Saleem Ahmad. “He was killed and four other civilians were injured when a few mortar bombs landed in Tad village of Tanghdar area in Karnah,” the police said.