Srinagar
A woman was killed and another injured on Wednesday after Indian troops’ allegedly targeted civilian population in two different areas of Pakistan administered Kashmir across the Line of Control, Pakistan media reported.
Neelum Deputy Commissioner Raja Mahmood Shahid told Dawn that “indiscriminate” shelling by Indian troops began at about 8:50 am in the morning and continued till 2 pm intermittently, during which the troops targeted civilian population in district headquarters Athmuqam and its surrounding hamlets.
The report further said that a mortar shell landed in the courtyard of a house in Bugna village on the outskirts of the district headquarters, killing Sajida Bibi, a 35-year-old mother of six.
“Splinters from the shell pierced through her neck, causing huge loss of blood that led to her on the spot death,” the Dawn quoted Deputy Commissioner saying after visiting the aggrieved family. Shahid handed over a cheque of Rs0.3 million on behalf of the Pakistan administered Kashmir government to the heirs of the deceased woman.
It’s for the second time that Indian troops have directly targeted civilian population of Athmuqam in less than two weeks, the report mentioned.
In the previous incident on December 31, a woman was killed and nine others, including two constables, were “wounded in firing and shelling by Indian troops”.
Elsewhere, a 35-years old woman, identified as Parveen Bibi, was injured after being hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell in Nali village of Barnala, said Bhimber Deputy Commissioner Sardar Khalid, of which Barnala is one of three subdivisions.
The woman was admitted to the military dressing centre in Bhimber where her condition was stated to be out of danger, he added. Khalid further informed that Indian troops also resorted to small arms fire in Baghsar sector but no casualties were reported from there, Dawn reported.
