Low-flying jets thundered over roofs, explosions rent the air and smoke filled the skyline along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts in the mountainous Pir Panchal Valley on Wednesday morning.
An eyewitness, who teaches in a school at Lam village, told The Hindu over the phone that students were appearing for the examination around 10 a.m. when three jets roared low across the sky.
“Explosions soon followed on the hill slopes. In the impact, stones rolled down the incline,” said the eyewitness.
Local people said two or three Pakistani fighter jets violated the air space in the Nowshera sector in Rajouri and Poonch district.
An official at the district administration office in Rajouri said a nine-year-old girl was injured in the bombing by the jets. Lam, Jhangar, Pukerni and Kerri at Nowshera were the areas where around half-a-dozen explosions were heard after the jets flew in. All these areas are within five km of the LoC.
Sources said one blast took place close to an Army depot in Rajouri. However, the local official denied any Army facility was hit in the bombing by the Pakistani jets.
“Any violation and its details will be confirmed only by the Indian Air Force (IAF). However, the LoC became calm by evening. There was no report of any major exchange,” Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, Mohammad Aijaz Asad told The Hindu .
The Hamirpur sector and Bhimber Gali in Poonch also reported air space violations by Pakistani jets. Officials said these jets were chased by the Air Force (IAF) planes.
After a daylong lull in Poonch, Pakistan again violated ceasefire after sunset in Meandher Balakote sectors, said officials.
All schools falling within a five km of the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri have been closed. In Uri, officials said, Pakistan resorted to “low-calibre firing” at night.
