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The News International, Thursday, June 13,
2002
100 Pakistani civilians died
of Indian shelling in one month
MUZAFFARABAD: A 47-year-old woman became the 100th victim of
Indian mortar attacks on Azad Kashmir in less than a month,
officials said on Wednesday.
The woman killed in heavy shelling of the Tatta Pani sector in
the southern district of Kotli was the 100th person to die in
Azad Kashmir border areas since May 15. A man was also injured in
Tatta Pani, which came under heavy fire mid-morning with the
bombardment escalating around noon.
Indian forces also shelled Mandhol, Tai, Darra Sher Khan and
other villages in the Hajira sector of Poonch, another southern
district during the day, police said. A farmer was injured in the
village of Batal in the Hajira sector and another person was
injured in Poonch's Khuiratta sector, they said. "Indian
troops are using heavy weapons," an officer told AFP from
Poonch police headquarters in Rawalakot.
"Overnight shelling occurred in almost all sectors of Kotli
district. But there were no major losses, except damage to some
shops in Tatta Pani," the official said. Shelling continued
through the night in Bhimbher, the southernmost district, but
stopped at dawn. "The guns have fallen silent since morning.
There is peace," said an administration official. Thousands
of people have fled from forward locations in the Samahni and
Chamb sectors of Bhimber district and have taken shelter in safer
areas.
Meanwhile, two people were injured as Indian and Pakistani
soldiers exchanged fire along the Line of Control overnight,
police said on Wednesday. A police spokesman said the shelling
across the LoC was less intense than in recent days.
"Shelling continued overnight in eight regions along the
international borders," the spokesman said and added
"But the intensity was less compared to the previous
days."
He said both sides fired artillery and mortar shells across the
LoC. "Five Indian sectors were targeted by Pakistani
soldiers in the Poonch and Rajouri," the spokesman said.
"Four houses in Sari village in Rajouri region were
destroyed and two civilians were injured."
The News International, Monday, June 10,
2002
Five civilians killed in
Indian shelling
SIALKOT: The intensified Indian mortar shelling on Sunday claimed
the lives of five Pakistani civilians, three of whom belonged to
villages along the Sialkot's working boundary and two to Azad
Kashmir. Retaliatory fire by Pakistani forces killed four Indian
soldiers.
According to official sources, the Indian shelling on Silakot
sector started at 5:30 am and continued the whole day. As a
result, three villagers were martyred and six others seriously
injured. The sources said Indian security forces fired more than
200 small and medium-sized mortar shells on border villages
Charwa, Abiyaal Dogar, Kahliyaan and Theekariyal, killing Noorul
Islam (in Charwa sector), Mohammed Din (in Narowal-Shakargarh
sector) and a minor child Aslam (in Bajwat sector) and injuring
six others including Bilal, Ahmad, Mohammed Aslam, Fazale Haq and
Mohammed Aslam Faiz. The injured were admitted to CMH Sialkot in
critical condition.
The Indian security forces re-targetted the civilian population
as well as their properties and continued mortar shelling on
Pakistani border villages in Chhumb Joriyaan, Bajwat, Bajragarhi,
Harpal, Charwa, Chaprar, Sucheetgarh, Jammu, Akhnoor, Saamba,
Zafarwal and Shakargarh-Narowal sectors, damaging 17 more houses
and killing 13 cattleheads. Due to the heavy shelling, the
traffic on Sialkot-Kingra-Merajkey Road and Sialkot-Charwa Road
remained suspended the whole day.
The official sources confirmed that the Pakistan security forces
responded immediately and effectively, killing four Indian
soldiers and destroying three Indian posts, six frontline bunkers
and two big defensive pillars.
Meanwhile, two civilians, including a woman, were killed and two
girls were injured as a result of unprovoked firing by Indian
forces from across the LoC in Nakyal and Bandala villages of
Samahni sector of Azad Kashmir.
According to official sources, Tanveer and Neelam Akhtar were
respectively killed in Bandala village of Samahni sector and
Pilani village of Nakyal sector. Two girls were also seriously
injured in Pilani village and admitted to a nearby hospital.
Firing is also continuing in Satwal and Chatra villages of
Rawalkot in Samahni sector and in Bhimber district. Local
administration chief Fayyaz Abbasi told AFP that thousands of
people have fled from forward positions in Samahni and its
adjoining Chamb sector to safer areas. "Shelling is
continuing in Samahni sector intermittently, but Chamb sector is
generally quiet," Abbasi said. A police official from
southern Poonch district said shelling had also resumed in
Abbaspur sector.
The News International, Sunday, June 09,
2002
Six civilians killed in Indian
shelling
SIALKOT: Six civilians, including four from one family, were
killed and four others wounded in Indian shelling in the Sialkot
sector, officials and witnesses said on Saturday.
Mirza Mohammad, a resident, said the firing started around 6:30
am and intensified throughout the morning. Indian shells fell on
several villages including one that killed the four family
members, he said.
Besides, seven people were injured by Indian artillery attacks on
border villages in Azad Kashmir. Retaliation by Pakistan troops
resulted in the deaths of three Indian soldiers. "Indian
troops using long-range weapons fired over a dozen shells in and
around Dakhari Kot at about 4:00 pm," police officer Raja
Abdur Razzaq told AFP from the city of Kotli. The village on the
left bank of the Poonch river is about a mile outside the
southern city of Kotli, he said.
"One of the shells landed inside a mud house, injuring four
residents -- an aged woman and two young women and a
three-year-old girl," Razzaq said. Two of the injured women
were in a critical condition. They had recently evacuated from
Mandhol village in Hajira sector in the neighbouring Poonch
district to escape Indian shelling there, the officer said.
Witnesses said the shelling caused much panic in Kotli, where
shopkeepers pulled down their shutters leaving markets deserted.
"The bazaar is deserted as almost all shops have been
closed," shopkeeper Masood Qasim, 27, told AFP by telephone.
"Only the medical stores are open."
Residents and officials said that the city had been observing an
overnight blackout -- in case of attack by Indian fighter planes
-- for the past week. Fayyaz Ahmed, a homeopath in Kotli's
Thalair Colony area, said that the residents had seen shells
falling on Dakhari Kot village across the Poonch river in which a
man and a woman were injured.
Earlier, India said one woman was killed and three people were
wounded by fire from Pakistani troops. Indian police said the
villagers were caught in heavy machinegun fire from Pakistani
troops near the town of Arnia.
The News International, Friday, June 07,
2002
25 Indian troops, 6 Pak
civilians killed in LoC fire
By our correspondent
MUZAFFARABAD: At least six people were Thursday killed and over a
dozen injured in Indian shelling into different sectors of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, intense shelling from across the Line of
Control (LoC) continued in Rawalakot, Kotli, Bhimber and Forward
Khutta areas of AJK, causing loss of life and injuries besides
extensive material damage.
Two sisters, Mareen and Shaista Bibi, died when a mortar shell
fired from across the LoC exploded in the compound of their house
at village Dhroti in Abbaspur sector of district Rawalakot.
Another three people died in indiscriminate shelling by Indian
troops at village Mahjan of Nakyal sector in the southern Kotli
district. The victims were identified as Muhammad Shafiq, Haq
Nawaz and Ashfaq.
Three other civilians including a woman were wounded in the same
village. A young girl, Nasreen, was killed in Khoiratta sector of
district Kotli where four members of a family sustained injuries.
They were identified as Rasib, Abid, Abdul Shakoor and Kulsoom.
In Dana, district Bhimber, Muhammad Aslam, Rehana, Kausar and
Sajid were wounded. Mir Muhammad, 35, was wounded in village
Shera of district Rawalakot, while two others were wounded in
forward Khutta area of district Bagh.
Five civilians were injured in villages near Sialkot city after
Indian forces shelled the area, an army official said. NNI adds:
Twenty-five Indian Army troops were killed and many suffered
injuries and material losses when Pakistani troops responded to
the Indian shelling.
Seven bunkers and two gun positions of the enemy were completely
destroyed in the retaliatory fire. Meanwhile, Brigadier Iftikhar
Khan has said the Pakistan Army has tightened security along the
LoC to strictly check any crossing to the other side.
Briefing US, Germany, UAE and Pakistani journalists at Hatyan
Bala Thursday, he said: "We have enhanced patrolling at the
Line of Control to stop any crossing from this part of Kashmir
and the general public has been directed not to try to cross the
LoC."
He briefed the journalists that the Pak Army was fully ready to
thwart any movement of the enemy to cross the Line of Control. He
said the Indian forces fired 29484 mortars in the past five
months. They martyred 50 civilians and injured 189 and also
destroyed hundreds of houses including mosques.
While Pak army never targeted civilian population while
retaliating the unprovoked firing of the enemy "as the
civilians living on other side of the LoC are also Muslims and we
take care of our response to the enemy's guns".
The News International, Thursday, June 06,
2002
Another civilian dies in
Indian shelling
MUZAFFARABAD: At least one person was martyred in Abasspur sector
in Poonch district of Azad Kashmir and five others sustained
injuries in indiscriminate Indian firing and shelling during last
12 hours in different sectors of LoC.
According to police, one person identified as Muhammad Sidique
s/o Shukurdin embraced martyrdom in Abasspur sector by Indian
shelling and five others received injuries. Khurshid Ahmed and
Zameen Bibi were critically injured in Samahani sector while two
persons of Batal village (Tehsil Hajeerah) and one of Phala Nagar
village (Bagh district) were also injured.
Officials said that Indian forces used both artillery including
mortar guns and light machineguns and damaged several residential
houses. Pakistan Army swiftly responded to the firing and
targeted their bunkers and other army installations.
And, along the Working Boundary in Sialkot, troops from the two
countries exchanged heavy mortar and machinegun fire, causing
people in the area to flee to relief centres set up by the
government in Sialkot city.
"There are no casualties, but our houses are being
destroyed," a resident of Pondran village said. "Many
houses, stored with large quantities of hay after the recent
wheat harvest, caught fire in our village when hit by Indian
mortar bombs overnight."
Meanwhile, an Indian defence official said that the two armies
traded fire from armoured vehicles across the LoC, the first such
exchange in their tense frontier stand-off. "This is the
first time in recent skirmishes armoured fire has been
used," he said, adding that there were no details of the
type of vehicles or calibre of weapons involved.
Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said exchanges of fire continued
along the LoC on Wednesday but the intensity of the barrage had
decreased. Indian shelling was reported only from Samahni sector
in the southernmost Bhimbher district, but the tense LoC was
generally calm, they said.
Normally the Indian forces begin shelling in the early morning
and continue intermittently until late into the evening,
officials and residents said. "There is fire in Samahni
sector but its intensity is low," an administration
officials told AFP. He said there were no casualties reported and
that Samahni's adjoining Chamb sector was also silent, a day
after the regional conference in Kazakhstan where intense
diplomatic efforts were made to avert an all-out war between the
nuclear rivals. Chamb and Samahni sectors have witnessed
indiscriminate shelling in the past two weeks, forcing thousands
of people to flee to safer places.
"There is sporadic fire in Khuiratta in southern Kotli
district, but overall the situation is calm today," a police
spokesman from the area said. Officials said no shelling had been
reported early on Wednesday from the districts of Bagh, Poonch
and Muzaffarabad, in contrast to the usual firing pattern. The
officials gave no reason for the respite and said it could be a
temporary phase.
The News International, Sunday, June 02,
2002, (Updated at 2100 PST)
3 killed by Indian shelling of
Azad Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD: Three people were killed and at least nine others
were injured as India shelled border villages in Azad Kashmir on
Sunday, police said.
Most of the casualties were in Khuiratta sector in the southern
Kotli district, police said.
Indian troops killed two men and injured nine others, including
two women, in an attack on a market and a residential area in the
border village of Inderla Kotehra.
The News International, Sunday, June 02,
2002
Blackout in AJK as Indian
shelling kills three more
MUZAFFARABAD: An overnight power blackout has been imposed in
Azad Kashmir as the civilian death toll from Indian shelling
continues to mount.
"This was a civil defence drill," Muzaffarabad deputy
commissioner Mahmoodul Hassan Raja told AFP on Saturday. "We
must be prepared to meet any situation," he said as he
chaired a meeting to review civil defence arrangements in the
wake of "Indian threats to launch war" on Azad Kashmir.
Power was cut to the districts of Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Kotli and
Bhimbher late Friday, sparking fears of air raids in the
Pakistani zone. Electricity was restored early Saturday, and
witnesses said.
Meanwhile, three people were killed and several wounded in Azad
Kashmir by Indian firing across the Line of Kashmir, officials
said. They said that Nargis Bibi (18) was killed in fresh
shelling by the Indian army which also left critically injured
two sisters, Nousheen Bibi (10) and Aisha (3), in village Palaie
Chahi in Samani sector in Bhimbher district.
In Kotli district, Rubina Bibi (29) died after she was hit by the
splinter of the mortar shells in village Balakot in Nikayal
sector. The Indian army targeted the areas of Bhera, Katrah,
Sohana, Kadmai, Dara Haripur and Khoi Rata sector, resulting in
the killing of Ibrar (8) while Suryia (3) received serious
injuries.
According to reports, some private properties were also damaged
in the unabated mortar shelling by the Indian army on villages of
Palaie Chahi in Samani sector and Balakot in Nikayal sector. A
house and a jeep were also destroyed in Rajdani. Indian army
fired more than two hundred shells into these areas.
A man was killed and three other people were injured as Indian
and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy shelling in held Poonch,
police said. Overnight a woman was seriously injured when
Pakistani troops targeted new areas in southern Kashmir.
The News International, Thursday, May 30,
2002
13 killed in Indian shelling
MUZAFFARABAD: Thirteen people have been killed and 14 injured as
Indian shells rained down on towns and villages in eastern
Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on Wednesday, police and residents
said.
The toll included five people killed and eight wounded by
overnight Indian shelling in the village of Bajra Garh in
Sialkot. "A woman and her three daughters were killed when a
shell destroyed their house," police officer Sarwar Ali told
AFP, adding that fourth daughter was seriously wounded. A man was
killed and seven others were injured in the same village, he said
and added the Indian troops were firing from Jammu district in
held Kashmir.
Another five people were killed and three injured late on
Wednesday as Indians bombed a market in Azad Kashmir. Police
officer Raja Ghulam Sarwar said: "The shells hit the town of
Hajira in the southern Poonch district at 7:45 pm." A
resident told AFP that one of the shells landed on a jeep parked
at the market, killing both the driver and a passenger. Three
more were killed and three injured by further shelling,
shopkeeper Mohammad Rashid said.
Hajira is at least 16 kilometres from the Line of Control. Rashid
said it was the first time in at least five years that any shells
had hit the town. Two more deaths were reported late on Wednesday
also in Hajira sector, in the village of Barra Sher Khan.
Police said a 12-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man were killed
by Indian shelling. Officials also expected casualties in the
neighbouring district of Bagh where "heavy" shelling
had started at 6:30 pm in forward Jahuda sector in the district
of Gan.
Wednesday's deaths bring to 62 the number of people killed on the
Pakistani side since artillery duels began this month. Meanwhile,
an Indian defence spokesman said seven people, including an
Indian soldier, were killed and 30 injured as Pakistani artillery
pounded the Poonch region of held Kashmir. Hospital sources said
three of the six people, who were critically injured in the
shelling, had died.
The spokesman said the Poonch region, some 240 kilometres from
held Jammu, was being heavily shelled. Seven villagers were also
feared killed in another attack elsewhere in Poonch, other
officials said. "Three military posts of the Indian army
came under artillery shelling in the Poonch region," a
police official said. One Indian soldier was critically injured
at the frontier post of Arnia. In New Delhi, defence ministry
officials claimed that Pakistani gunners had switched from
mortars to artillery to pound positions in held Kashmir.
Overnight, an Indian soldier was killed in shelling in the Kargil
region, a defence spokesman said.
The News International, Wednesday, May 29,
2002, (Updated at 1230 PST)
6 die in Indian mortar fire at
Working Boundary
SIALKOT: Six people were killed and 20 wounded
as Indian troops opened heavy fire across the border in Punjab,
reports said on Wednesday.
Reports quoting police and military sources said the two sides
also exchanged heavy fire in Samani sector in Azad Kashmir but
there were no reports of casualties.
The News International, Wednesday, May 29,
2002
Two dead as Indian troops
shell AJK
MUZAFFARABAD: Indian troops on Tuesday shelled villages in Azad
Kashmir, killing two people and injuring at least eight others,
officials said.
The deaths were reported in the town of Samahni, about 5 km from
the Line of Control. Bhimbher district deputy commissioner Fayyaz
Abbasi said that two men were killed by shrapnel from shells that
landed in different parts of the town. "Five others,
including a woman, were also injured," he said, adding that
another shell landed within the premises of the town hospital but
no one was hurt.
Due to the shelling the power supply to Samahni was suspended,
shutting down telecommunication links. "In the absence of
communication links, we are facing difficulties in gathering
information on the losses caused by unprovoked Indian
shelling," Abbasi said.
The local official said that the shelling was intense, and that
enemy troops were targeting civilian population.In the district
of Kotli, where heavy shelling started in the morning in
Khuiratta and Charoi sectors, three people were injured, said
police officer Raja Ghulam Sarwar. Several houses were also
damaged in the area in the cross border shelling, he added.
The LoC remained calm after two weeks of intense shelling
following President Pervez Musharraf's pledge not to initiate a
war, police in held Jammu said on Tuesday. "There is calm on
the borders after the speech," Amjed Mirza, a senior police
official of border district Kathura, 85 km south of held Jammu,
told AFP. "Though there is some light firing, the intensity
of shelling has reduced considerably compared to the previous
days," he said.
Police said about 60,000 villagers living near the borders have
migrated to neighbouring districts. "The migration is
continuing. In Kathura district alone about 15,000 villagers have
moved out," Mirza said.
The News International, Tuesday, May 28,
2002
17 civilians killed in Indian
shelling
By our correspondent
SIALKOT: As many as 14 civilians were martyred and forty others
injured as Pakistani villagers living in the Sialkot Working
Border area braved the worst Indian firing and shelling during
the evenings of Saturday and Sunday. Ten Indian troops were also
killed in retaliation by the Chenab Rangers. Besides, three
people were killed in Indian shelling of Azad Jammu & Kashmir
(AJK) in the two days.
Eight persons, including three women and a minor girl, were
killed and 22 were injured in Indian shelling late on Saturday.
Mother Allah Rakhi, 70, wife Safia Bibi, 35, and daughter Sumbal,
8, of Muhammad Hafeez were killed as an Indian mortar shell hit
their house at Rangpur Jattan in the Chaprar Sector of the
Working Boundary.
Two Indian mortar shells struck the house of a primary school
teacher, Bashir Ahmad, at village Juian in the Sujeetgarh Sector
of the Working boundary. Bashir, 40, his mother Hasan Bibi, 65,
and two sons Muhammad Waqas, 15, and Muhammad Abbas, 10, were
killed instantly. A peasant Naseer Ahmad, 37, of the Juian
village was also instantly killed by the shelling while he was
passing through a street.
Residents of Umranwai village, where 12 people were injured by
Indian fire, said a Majlis-e-Aza was in progress when Indian
troops started shelling and firing the hapless civilians late on
Saturday. More than hundred houses were completely destroyed in
Umranwali, Juian, Rangpur Jattan and Charwa villages by heavy
Indian shelling. Dozens of cattle head were also killed in the
same villages.
Indian army continued firing artillery and mortar shells on the
civilians across the Working Border area on Sunday evening
killing six persons, including three women and two children,
besides wounding eight people. Muhammad Akmal, 28, Kulsoom Bibi,
30, and her six-year-old daughter and four-year-old son were
martyred in village Thathi Kalan in the Chaprar Sector. Atia
Kausar, 14, and Sardaran Bibi, 45, were martyred and the
daughter-in-law and daughter of the latter were wounded in
village Charwa in the Charwa Sector.
The injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital as
well as others, and an emergency has been declared in all the
Sialkot hospitals. The martyred were laid to rest in Jhai,
Bhattey Kalan and other villages in the presence of thousands of
mourners on Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Army and Chenab rangers retaliated the Indian
shelling on Saturday and Sunday nights in the Chaprar, Bajwat,
Sujeetgarh and Charwa sectors. Pak Army and Chenab rangers blew
up three Indian posts in Bajwat and Charwa sectors, killing at
least 10 Indian troops and injuring more than 20 on Saturday and
Sunday nights. Two army vehicles and huge ammunition of the enemy
were also destroyed. Official sources have informed that the
exchange of firing and shelling was intermittently going on in
all the sectors of the Sialkot Working Boundary on Monday.
Hundreds of villagers from the area have started evacuating their
villages and shifting towards safer places in and around Sialkot.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army has directed the villagers living
close to the Sialkot Working Boundary to evacuate their villages
on Monday. Officials said that the decision had been made in view
of the unprovoked and intensified Indian firing and shelling on
the civilian population. The villages to be evacuated included
Anula, Thathi Kalan, Mehenderwal, Umranwali, Junian Vainse,
Nandpur, Rangpur Jattan, Kairey Batoly and Jhumain Dalalan.
Another three people were killed in Azad Jammu & Kashmir
(AJK) on Sunday and Monday as Indian troops continued shelling
across the Line of Control (LoC), officials said. An Indian
security person was killed in retaliatory fire. While two men
were killed on Sunday, a woman died on Monday. "The woman
was hit by shrapnels of a mortar shell in Jhandi Chotran village
in Samahni sector in the southernmost Bhimbher district," an
administration official told AFP from Bhimbher. "But the
intensity of bombardment is not as severe as compared to
yesterday," the official said. Officials here said shelling
continued overnight but caused no casualties. "Overnight
exchange of fire took place in Poonch, Bhimbher and in Neelum
valley, but, fortunately no human casualty was reported from
anywhere," a police officer told AFP. He said in Neelum
Valley several shells landed in the main market and a nursery in
the town of Athmuqam, some 80 kilometres northeast of
Muzaffarabad. But no one was hurt. The firing damaged the
railings of a small bridge near the town of Tatta Pani in
district Kotli, he said. The bridge, which connects the districts
of Kotli and Poonch, was repaired early Monday and traffic was
not disrupted, he said.
In retaliatory fire by Pakistan, a soldier of India's
paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) was killed in Rajouri
district 75 kilometres west of held Jammu, while another trooper
at the same post was injured in the attack. And on Monday, two
people were killed and another was injured in AJK as Indian
troops targeted several border villages and larger settlements
with long-range weapons.
Shelling began in the southern Poonch district in the evening,
with Indian troops using mortars and artillery, Poonch deputy
commissioner Liaqat Hussain told AFP. "The shelling is worst
and is continuing. The enemy troops are targeting the civilian
populations," he said. Hussain said police reported that
20-25 shells had landed in the major town of Abbaspur, which has
a population of some 15,000 people and is located barely five
kilometres from the LoC. "It is the first time since the
1971 war that the city has come under direct fire," Hussain
said. "One of the shells landed near a rest house in the
heart of the city, killing a man standing there on the
spot," he said, adding that another man was killed in Bokra
village.
Hussain said the town of Sehra had also received more than 25
shells, but there was no immediate report of losses. "The
losses could be higher in every area, but we have to wait for the
shelling to subside to collect details," he said. The latest
deaths pushed the toll on the Pakistani side of the LoC to 42
since the shelling started earlier this month. On the other side
of the Line of the Control, 15 Indians have been killed.
The News International, Monday, May 27,
2002, (Updated at 2030 PST)
9 embraced Shahadat, 42
injured due to Indian shelling
RAWALPINDI: Nine persons including two women
embraced Shahadat and forty two were injured due to unprovoked
shelling and firing by the Indian troops along the Line of
Control (Azad Kashmir) and working boundary (Sialkot, Jammu
Sector) during the last 24 hours.
According to ISPR, Indian Army used automatic weapons, medium and
short range artillery, mortars and rocket launchers causing
damage to civilian property including primary schools and rural
health centres.
The News International, Thursday, May 23,
2002, (Updated at 1350 PST)
Indian shelling toll in Azad
Kashmir mounts to 24
MUZAFFARABAD: Three people were killed by
Indian shelling overnight in the Pakistani zone of disputed
Kashmir, pushing the toll in the past week to 24, police and
officials said Thursday.
The shelling was heavy overnight in a number of sectors, Deputy
Commissioner for Poonch Liaqat Hussain told. An elderly woman
died and a man was wounded late Wednesday in Dharr bazaar in
Hajira sector of the southern Poonch district, he said.
"They fired shells that ignited fire," Hussain said,
adding that five shops and a hotel were reduced to ashes in the
bazaar and two houses were also damaged.
The market village of Dharr lies close to the Line of Control,
the de facto border that divides the troubled Himalayan region of
Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India.
The News International, Wednesday, May 22,
2002, (Updated at 1100 PST)
Death toll from shelling hits
18 in Azad Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD: A sixth day of heavy shelling by
Indian forces on Azad Kashmir pushed the death toll up to 18,
reports said Wednesday.
Shells landed as far as 15 kilometres inside Pakistani territory
when firing began at midday, injuring three people in the village
of Choki, previously considered a safe area, a report said.
Shelling was heavy overnight in a number of sectors and killed
three people, including two young girls, officials said.
A 13-year-old girl was killed and her infant sister was wounded
in Gundi Garan village in southern Chakothi sector, they said.
The News International, Monday, May 20,
2002
12 Pak civilians, three Indian
troops killed in LoC fire
ISLAMABAD: Twelve Pakistani villagers were killed while 50
injured as Indian army continued unprovoked shelling of civilian
population along the Sialkot Working Boundary and the Line of
Control. Three Indian troops were also killed in retaliation by
Pakistani soldiers.
As a result of fresh unprovoked artillery assault by the Indian
army on late Sunday night on Samani Bazar in Bhimbher district of
Azad Kashmir, three civilians were martyred and eight others were
grievously injured, official sources said.
They told APP that the Indian army, from across the Line of
Control indiscriminately fired on the Samani Bazar, targeting the
civil population at about 8:00 pm. As a result, three persons
embraced martyrdom and eight other civilians were injured, they
added.
The sources said that all the injured were admitted in Samani and
Bhimbher hospitals, where they were provided medicare. They said
that the firing by the Indian army continued intermittently for
some time. Private property was also damaged in Samani Bazar
because of the Indian army firing.
Meanwhile, the number of the civilians martyred in three seperate
incidents of the unprovoked shelling and firing by the Indian
army on Azad Jammu and Kashmir's villages in Samani and Barnala
in Bhimbher sector on Sunday increased to four, and those injured
to 13.
The APP reported ISPR sources as having said that more than 20
villages had been affected by heavy Indian shelling on the
sub-sectors of Marala, Mirajkey and Shakargarh along the Working
Boundary. Eleven injured villagers were rushed to nearby
hospitals.
The APP continued that civilian population along the LoC and the
Working Boundary had been braving indiscriminate Indian shelling
for the third consecutive day on Sunday. Three people embraced
martyrdom in Keal, two in Aathmaqam and one in Chakothi. A women
embraced martyrdom in Bernala sub-sector on the LoC.
Indian army's unprovoked firing also caused heavy damage to the
civilian property. Many houses have been destroyed as medium and
field artillery mortars and direct firing weapons were used by
the Indian army. The injured have been admitted to the Combined
Military Hospital, Muzaffarabad.
The Pakistan Army is responding effectively to the unprovoked
firing on the civilian population by targeting the Indian
military positions. However an Indian defence spokesman said
shells were landing on civilian areas on the Indian side in the
southern Kashmir but there were no reports of casualties.
Our correspondent adds: Two Pakistani villagers and three Indian
troops were killed while nine injured in the exchange of
shelling. The exchange of shelling and firing continued in
Shakargarh, Zafarwal, Charka, Chaprar, Bajwat and Sujeetgarh
sectors during the last 24 hours. Official sources told The News
Sunday evening that two Pakistani villagers Abdul Karim, 60, of
Luni village and Wahabuddin, 55, of the Tunder village were
martyred due by Indian firing in the Bajwat and Shakargarh
sectors respectively.
Both received Indian bullets while at home. Nine persons,
including a woman, sustained severe injuries in different border
area villages. In the Bajwat sector, Muhammad Younis, Abdul
Rasheed, Asif Ali, Nisar Ali, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Iqbal,
Mukhtar Ahmad and Abdul Karim and in Chaprar sector Hanifan Bibi
were injured and were subsequently hospitalised in Sialkot.
Meanwhile, the Chenab Rangers on Sunday hit three Indian defence
posts in Akhnur in front of the Bajwat sector, killing at least
three Indian troops. The enemy troops were seen shifting their
injured companions, whose number could be more than ten.
The official sources reported that the exchange of fire and
shelling was continuing in all the sectors of the 220km-long
Sialkot Working Boundary. The Indian firing was intensified in
the Bajwat and Shakargarh sectors, where the Chenab Rangers were
retaliating the fire.
The News International, Sunday, May 19,
2002
Two killed in Indian shelling
on AJK areas
Iftikharabad, Chakothi, Shahkot, Haji Pir and Kel
targeted
ISLAMABAD: Two people were killed and 15 injured as the Indian
army unleashed "indiscriminate" firing and shelling
across the Line of Control (LoC) into Azad Jammu and Kashmir
(AJK), Pakistan Army officials said on Saturday.
"The Pakistan army swiftly responded and targeted the
hostile Indian military positions," it said in a statement.
The "unprovoked" attack targeted several places along
LoC, it said, adding that intense shelling began at dawn in a
number of sub-sectors, including Iftikharabad, Chakothi, Shahkot,
Haji Pir and Kel. Indian troops used "medium and field
artillery, mortars and direct firing weapons causing destruction
of houses owned by civilians", the statement said.
Officials in Muzaffarabad, said that one woman was killed and 11
other people injured as Indian troops targeted the main bazaar in
the border village of Chakothi. The shelling began at 9:40 am and
was continuing around midday, senior police officer Raja Ghulam
Sarwar said. The Indians were targeting Chakothi's main bazaar
and shops had closed for safety, Sarwar said. "People may
move to safer places because the shelling is heavy," he
said. An empty school building was hit and some shops were
damaged, he said. Another death and several injuries were
reported from the upper belt of Neelum valley, which straddles
the disputed border and is a regular target for shelling.
"The losses might be more than we have initially
reported," a military source told AFP.
The bombardment began at 6:30 am (0030 GMT) in Chamb sector in
the southern Bhimber district, Bhimber Deputy Commissioner Fayyaz
Abbasi told AFP. "The shelling is continuing but we are yet
to receive reports of any losses," he said, adding,
"they are using machine guns, mortars and artillery."
The Army said that four people, including two children and women,
were injured in Indian shelling that targeted a Rural Health
Centre, located in Iftikharabad sub-sector.
The News International, Saturday, May 18,
2002
12 dead, 40 hurt in heavy LoC
fire
ISPR says Pakistan Army retaliated effectively, enemy's military
positions hit; Marala, Mirajke, Shakargarh, Neelam, Rawla Kot
sectors come under fire; villagers of border areas evacuating
ISLAMABAD: Eight Indian troops and four Pakistani civilians were
killed and 40 others wounded in border skirmishes amid escalating
tension here on Friday, sources and Pakistan Army officials said.
Military sources said artillery was being readied for action.
Indian troops opened fire on villages on the Pakistani side of
Line of Control and border areas, a Pakistan Army statement said
Friday. "The Pakistan Army retaliated effectively and
targeted the enemy's military positions causing considerable
damage. The enemy was busy removing their dead and wounded
soldiers when last reports came in," the statement said.
The "unprovoked" firing during the past 24 hours was
reported in Marala, Mirajke, Shakargarh, Neelam and Rawla Kot
sectors, the army said. An Indian defence ministry spokesman said
Indian and Pakistani soldiers were using low-calibre weapons and
added the fighting was mainly concentrated on the borders of the
southern zone of Held Kashmir.
"Mortars, small arms and infantry weapons are being used in
the sectors of Samba, R.S.Pora, Jammu and Heeranagar and in our
retaliatory fire we have caused heavy damage on the Pakistani
side," defence spokesman P.K. Bandhopadhya told AFP in New
Delhi.
"There has been no damage on our side," he asserted.
Highly-placed Indian military sources said batteries of
high-caibre artillery guns were on the ready following the
escalation of tensions. "Tensions are palpable on the
borders and hence the activity," the source added.
Earlier, an Indian army spokesman said Pakistani troops opened
"unprovoked" fire early in the morning on Indian posts
in Kashmir, killing a boy and injuring four people. The shelling
further heightened the tension between the nuclear-armed
neighbours that has been building since the held Kashmir attack
on Tuesday which killed 35 people.
An ISPR press release issued Friday said Indian army used
automatic weapons including machine guns, recoilless rifles,
mortars and rocket launchers. Four persons including an aged
woman embraced shahadat and 40 were injured.
The villagers wounded in the firing were immediately rushed to
the nearby medical centers. Serious injured were shifted to
Sialkot. Indian army also resorted to unprovoked firing in
various sub-sectors along LoC. Fifteen persons including women
and children were injured. They were admitted to the nearby
hospitals.
Much of the firing across the border Friday was in the Indian
districts of Samba, Ramgarh and RS Pura, Indian army officials
told The Associated Press in Jammu. One civilian was killed by
Pakistani fire in the RS Pura sector, about 25 kilometers west of
Jammu, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.
Hundreds of people began to flee border villages, the police
official said. Small and medium weapons fire was also reported
from the Poonch and Naushera districts, where Kashmir is divided
between India and Pakistan by a 1972 cease-fire line. Indian
soldiers had told villagers Friday morning to be ready to leave,
said local resident Bhola Ram.
Grim-faced Indian soldiers ferried ammunition to the border. Amid
the uncertainty and fear, villagers huddled in school buildings
and government offices in the sweltering heat. BD Sharma, a
government official in the border district of Kathua, said
residents from 11 villages were seeking shelter in vacant
government buildings. He said about 2,000 people had fled.
The cross-border firing on Friday was ``a routine exchange of
fire,'' army spokesman Col. Shruti Kant told The Associated
Press. ``It does not warrant any serious concern at this
moment.'' The United States and other allies are gravely
concerned that a fourth war between the South Asian nuclear-armed
rivals could be imminent, as a million Pakistani and Indian
troops are on war alert along their border, agencies report.
Sialkot correspondent adds: In village Bhure Chak in the
Shakargarh sector of the working border, Sulaiman, Naziran Bibi
and Abdul Majeed were among the dead. Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad
Hussain, Rukhsana Bibi, Rashida and Sukhar Din sustained severe
injuries.
In the Chanwah sector of the working border, Bashir Hussain,
Rizwan, Gulshan Bibi, Nuzhat Abdurrehman, Bilal and Saiqa
sustained severe injuries due to the Indian firing. In the Bajwat
sector, Ghulam Dastgir was injured.
Similarly in the Shakargarh sector, four peasants including
Mohammad Sajeed Gul were reported injured due to the Indian
firing. On the other hand while returning the Indian firing, the
Chenab Rangers killed over seven Indian troops in the Bajwat
Sujeetgarh and Shakargarh sectors. Official sources reported
Friday evening that the Chenab Ranges had destroyed three Indian
defence posts.
Ten Indian troops were injured and at least two Indian military
vehicles were destroyed, it was reported. Heavy exchange of
shelling and firing involving light and medium level weapons was
continuing in all the sectors of the Sialkot working boundry till
the filing of this report. Meanwhile, due to the mounting tension
villagers residing in the border areas of the Sialkot working
boundary have once again started shifting to safer places.