Fresh ceasefire violation on Thursday forced the closure of schools along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pir Panchal Valley’s Rajouri. The Army also foiled an infiltration bid in the Kashmir valley.
An official spokesman said the firing by Pakistani troops started at 7.45 a.m. in Rajouri’s Lam and Pukharni areas. The firing and shelling forced the authorities to close down 71 schools close to the Line of Control (LoC), he added.
Deputy Commissioner Shahid Chaudhary said Pakistan resorted to “heavy shelling in Kampala, Pukherni, Lam, Anwas Bhandar, and Rattal Basali”.
The official spokesman said Indian troops also retaliated to Pakistan fire in Pukharni, Kampala, Barat Gala, Rattal and Veer Badeshwar.
According to the J&K government, 25 people were killed in the last two years along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) and 162 were injured. At least 224 houses were damaged in cross-border shelling. Ninety-four militants were also killed on the IB and LoC in the same period.
Meanwhile, the Army foiled an infiltration bid in the Tangdhar Sector in north Kashmir. A Srinagar-based Army spokesman said a group of four terrorists attempted to infiltrate under cover of darkness and thick jungles in mountainous terrain in the general area of Kalban in Tangdhar. “They were spotted by the alert troops. They were engaged with heavy fire and terrorists were seen running away into the thick jungles towards the LoC,” said the spokesman.
In south Kashmir, 10-year-old Musharaf Fayaz, who suffered major injuries after a shell went off at the encounter site on January 25 in the Chaigund village of Shopian, succumbed to his injuries at a Srinagar hospital.
