A worshipper was killed and three others received splinter injuries in Shahpur area of Poonch on Friday in heavy mortar shelling by the Pakistan Army from across the line of control. It is after a long time the Pakistan Army used 120 mm mortars to target civilian areas on the Indian side. Hitting back, the Indian Army too retaliated strongly and reportedly caused heavy damages to several forward posts of the Pakistan Army. The firing in the area was going on till the time of filing the report till late Friday evening.
According to ground reports, “a mortar shell fired by the Pakistan Army directly landed on the roof top of a religious place and exploded after falling down in the courtyard where worshippers were gearing up to offer Friday prayers”.
One of the worshipper, present in the courtyard,identified as Badrudin, was hit by splinters of a mortar shell and succumbed to his fatal injuries while three others were rushed to the nearby hospital by local villagers despite heavy shelling in the area. The Pakistan Army also targeted forward villages in Qasba, Keerni, Mandhar and Kaiyan areas of Poonch.
On Thursday evening also, the Pakistan Army had targeted a revered shrine of Sain Miran Sahib in the forward area but failed to inflict any injuries to civilian population.
According to ground reports, “the Pakistan Army on Friday afternoon initiated ‘unprovoked’ ceasefire violation in Shahpur area of Poonch targeting several forward Indian posts”. After some time, Pakistan army started targeting civilian areas using 120 mm mortars triggering panic in the forward villages. In the absence of adequate number of bunkers constructed in the area the local residents were left with little options but to remain closeted inside their houses.
According to official sources, out of sanctioned 14460 bunkers , a total number of 6,225 bunkers have been completed so far in the division, including 5,628 individual bunkers and 597 community bunkers.
Out of these only 562 bunkers have been constructed in Poonch while 1,369 bunkers have been completed in Samba district, 955 in Jammu district, 1,230 in Kathua district, 2,109 in Rajouri district.
Construction work of 14460 bunkers were approved at a cost of Rs 415.73 crore for border residents facing Pakistani shelling in Jammu division. A total of 13,029 individual bunkers and 1431 community bunkers were sanctioned to accommodate border residents during cross border firing.