Two injured in heavy shelling by Pakistan along international border

Jammu, May 22

A 70-year-old woman was among the two people injured as Pakistani Rangers opened fire and lobbed mortars along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir early on Tuesday, triggering panic among border residents and forcing many to take shelter in government-run camps.

“The cross-border firing and shelling continued unabated and has spread to all sectors from Akhnoor to Samba along the IB,” a senior BSF official told PTI.

He said BSF troops guarding the border retaliated effectively and exchanges between the two sides were continuing when the reports last came in.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, SD Singh Jamwal, said one person was injured in the fresh firing in the worst-hit Arnia sector of Jammu district.

Madan Lal Bhagat, a resident of Pindi Charkan village of Arnia, was hit by splinters in the abdomen and foot after a mortar shell hit his house in the early hours of Tuesday, the officials said, adding that he had been admitted to Government Medical College.

Police said a 70-year-old woman identified as Kaushalya Devi was also injured in the firing.

Jamwal said police parties had been deployed and were helping people shift to safer places from affected areas.

Jammu Divisional Commissioner Hemant Kumar Sharma said relief camps had been activated at safer places all along the IB, especially in RS Pura and Arnia sectors, which witnessed heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan over the past two days.

Hundreds of people had reported at these camps set up in educational institutes and other government buildings, Sharma said, adding that adequate facilities had been made available at these camps so that the displaced people did not face any problem.

He said all schools vulnerable to Pakistani shelling had been closed along the IB as a precautionary measure. PTI