Kashmir

A woman and a teenage boy were killed and six others wounded in two districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after Indian troops resorted to shelling from across the restive Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday, civil and military officials said. “Indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing in Nezapir sector targeting civil population. A citizen embraced shahadat while 2 children [were] injured,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported in a brief statement. The military’s media wing claimed that Pakistani forces responded ‘effectively’.Nezapir sector is located in Haveli district. Haveli Deputy Commissioner Kashif Hussain told Dawn that shelling began at around 11am and continued till 4pm. “Indians used both small and heavy weapons but got a befitting response from our side”, he claimed. Hussain said a 16-year-old boy Rafaqat, son of Zakar, was herding cattle in Akhori Bala village when he fell victim to Indian shelling and lost his life. In Kairni village of the same sector, eight-year-old Usama and his seven-year-old sister Mavia were injured, and shifted to a military-run health facility in Kahuta, the district headquarters, he added. In Kotli district, Indian troops fired mortar shells at Tarkundi, Plani and Kalar Galla villages of Nakyal sector in the afternoon, “without any provocation, targeting unarmed and innocent civilian populations”, said Nakyal Assistant Commissioner Waleed Anwar.