A teenage boy was killed and his younger sibling critically injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday after Indian troops resorted to “unprovoked” firing from across the Line of Control (LoC), officials said.
The casualties, according to Zubair Gillani, a police official in Forward Kahuta, occurred in Akhori village situated in closest proximity of the LoC in Nezapir sector of Haveli district.
The police official identified the deceased as 15-year-old Tahir and the injured as 12-year-old Tahira, both children of Muhammad Hafeez.
According to Muhammad Zaheer, a district disaster management officer in Haveli, Indian troops resorted to ceasefire violations at about 7am.
The firing, during which they mostly used small arms and mortar shells, continued until 10:30am, he added.
The victims were standing along the boundary wall of their house when a mortar shell landed in their courtyard, Zaheer said.
The boy was hit by a shrapnel on his chest and died on the spot, while the girl was critically injured after a splinter passed through her head causing her a brain injury, he added. Zaheer said the injured girl was initially brought to a military-run health facility in district headquarters Forward Kahuta, from where she was referred to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan Hospital Rawalakot in the neighbouring Poonch district.
An army doctor accompanied her to Rawalakot owing to her critical condition. Given the length of the journey, they had not reached Rawalakot until the filing of this report. Doctors were sceptical about her survival, Zaheer said.