A 10-day-old baby was on Monday killed and two others injured as Pakistani troops rained mortars in the civilian areas of Shahpur sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch district of Jammu.
The injured included the child’s mother, Fatima Jan (35) and Mohammad Arif (40). The three were seriously injured as splinters of mortars hit them on Sunday evening. They were rushed to the district hospital where the infant succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning.
The other two injured were rushed to Government Medical College Hospital at Jammu for specialised treatment where their condition was stated to be “stable”.
Pakistani troops continued to fire mortars in the area for the second day today. Army’s spokesman Lt Colonel Devender Anand said that at about 12.45 pm today Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing of small arms and shelling with mortars along the LoC in Shahpur Sector.
Indian Army is retaliating befittingly, he said.
Pakistan started shelling the area also on Monday at 5 pm. Pakistani troops were lobbing mortars and using small arms to target forward posts and villages in Shahpur, Saujiyan and Mendhar sectors, reports said.
There was panic among the residents of the area as several houses were also damaged in the firing.
An Indian soldier was last week killed in Pakistani firing in the Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district while a civilian was injured in another incident of shelling by Pakistan in Poonch sector on 20 July.