5 of family killed as Pak shells villages along LoC in Poonch

PAKISTAN HAS VIOLATED CEASEFIRE 633 TIMES IN THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, IN WHICH 10 SECURITY MEN AND 12 CIVILIANS WERE KILLED

JAMMU: Pakistani mortar shelling killed five members of a family and left two sisters wounded and orphaned in a Jammu and Kashmir village about 4km from the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday.

The Pakistanis “are specifically targeting civilians and their livestock”, said army spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand. He called the firing from across the border a “deliberate provocation”.

According to state police chief SP Vaid, the wounded sisters — Nasreen Kouser and Mahreen Kouser, aged 11 and five — were airlifted and admitted to the government medical college and hospital in Jammu. State public works minister Naeem Akhtar visited them in the hospital.

They lost their parents and three brothers when a shell ripped through the roof and exploded in their house in Devta Sargloon village in the Balakote area of Poonch district.

Mohammed Ramzan, 35, his 32-year-old wife Malika Bi, and their three sons — Abdul Rehman, Mohammed Rizwan and Razaq Ramzan, aged 14, 12 and seven respectively, were killed.

According to the army, Pakistan’s “cowardly act” of targeting civilians in areas almost 4km from the LoC, where there is no deployment of soldiers or military installation, was a serious concern. Lt Col Anand said the army has “retaliated strongly ” to the indiscriminate firing by Pakistan.