Twelve Kashmiris killed in Indian shelling
Twelve people, including seven women, have been killed by Indian shelling, officials in the Pakistani administered Kashmir said on Sunday.
This was the highest death toll in cross-border firing in recent months, the officials said.
Nineteen people had also been wounded when Indian forces fired “indiscriminately” across southern Neelam valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Saturday, the officials added.
“It was the heaviest shelling “by the Indian troops in recent weeks,” said Mahmud Al-Hasan, deputy commissioner of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. “It started early on Saturday and continued till late (Saturday) night.”
Pakistani state-run media reported on Saturday that one man had been killed and seven others wounded by the Indian firing.
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“It is the highest death toll in recent months.” Mahmud Al-Hasan |
Al-Hasan said the death toll had risen after Indian troops intensified their firing.
He said Indian troops using mortars, medium artillery and small arms had fired heavily into three villages in Neelam valley. “Most of the casualties are from these villages,” he said.
Kashmir lies at the heart of tension between the two South Asian rivals, India and Pakistan, and has been the trigger of two of the three wars between them since their independence from British rule in 1947.