Five killed, 40 injured in Pak shelling in Jammu
TENSION ESCALATES Death toll mounts to 12 in firing for nine consecutive days since May 15; 1 lakh border area residents displaced
JAMMU: At least five civilians, including a child, were killed and three Border Security Force (BSF) men were among 40 injured as Pakistan Rangers, joined by their army, rained mortars on more than 100 Indian villages and 80 BSF posts along the 198-kmlong International Border (IB) from north of Tawi River in Jammu district to Pansar in Kathua district on Wednesday.
It was the 9th day of continuous firing and shelling by Pakistani Rangers along the IB and Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts.
“Five civilians died and 37 others were injured in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts in the latest round of Pak shelling on Wednesday,” said J&K director general of police SP Vaid.
BSF inspector general (Jammu frontier) Ram Awtar said: “Three BSF men suffered minor splinter injuries on Wednesday at Ballar post in Samba. Pakistan has been using flat trajectory and area weapons in all the three districts from Tawi River in Jammu to Pansar in Kathua district.”
On Wednesday, two villagers were killed in Bainglar village in Samba, another two in Shamka village of RS Pura in Jammu and a man from Londi village of Hiranagar sub-sector of Kathua succumbed to his injuries at a hospital,” said a senior police official.
The dead have been identified as Shamo Devi, 35, Krishna, 8, both of Glar village in Samba, Bhajan Lal of Shamka village, Raghubir Singh of RS Pura and Ram Paul of Londi village in Hiranagar. With this, the death toll since May 15 has now gone up to 12. The dead include two BSF constables Devendra Singh Baghel, Sita Ram Upadhyaya, a couple — Tarsem Lal and his wife Manjeet Kour of
Chandu Chak village — eightmonth-old child Nitin in Keri Battal of Akhnoor, Satpaul and Jagmohan of Trewa village in Arnia.
The BSF IG said firing and shelling continued throughout Tuesday night from Pansar to Tawi, which extended to Wednesday. According to a government document, nearly 1-lakh villagers from the north of Chenab in Akhnoor to Pansar were forced to migrate from their homes following Pak firing. While some have taken shelter in makeshift camps set up by the administration, others preferred to shift to houses of relatives and friends. Schools within 5km radius of the IB also remained closed.
Kathua deputy commissioner Rohit Khajuria said at least 10 relief camps have been set up in the district. Around 250 villagers have taken refuge on Wednesday in camps set up at Gadyal, Hiranagar and Chann Morian, he said.
A local Prakash Singh said that Bobbiyan Londi, Karol Krishna, Pansar and Manyari, the villages on the border in Kathua district have been vacated.
Samba deputy commissioner Rajinder Singh Tara said five camps have been set up in the district, including two big camps at Thandi Khui and Chichi Mata Temple. “Presently, there are over 1,000 people in different camps,” he said.