Woman killed, five persons wounded in Pakistani shelling in J-K’s Arnia

A woman was killed and her husband and daughter-in-law were injured when a mortar fired by Pakistan exploded in their house in Jammu and Kashmir’s Arnia sub-sector on Sunday, officials said. Three other people of another family were also injured in an explosion in the same area.

The woman was killed when the mortar exploded in their house in Ala village around 3am, said Arnia station house officer Satish Kumar.

The deceased woman was identified as Ratna Devi, and her injured husband as Chuni Lal and daughter-in-law Rajni Devi.

With this, the death toll in Arnia since Thursday has gone up to two.

Earlier, BSF Jammu Frontier DIG Dharmender Pareekh said three other people were injured in Pakistani shelling in Arnia.

They were injured when a shell exploded in their house in ward number 4 of Arnia town around 10 pm on Saturday.

Villagers point to the mark of a mortar shell fired by Pakistan in Arnia. (PTI)

Pareekh said Pakistani Rangers started firing without any provocation in Arnia, and Indian personnel retaliated in an effective manner. There was no loss of life or injury to BSF personnel.

The three injured civilians were identified as 65-year-old Maya Devi, 12-year-old Shubam and his 35-year-old mother Rajni Kumari. Maya Devi is being treated at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu.

On Saturday, Pakistani Rangers had opened heavy fire on six to eight Indian posts along the international border in Arnia sub-sector. Three cattle died, three others were injured and three houses and a temple were damaged in the firing.

On the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, Pakistani Rangers had shot dead BSF constable Brijendra Bahadur Singh in a sniper fire in Arnia sector, prompting BSF to retaliate stingingly.

On Friday morning, a civilian Ajay Kumar of Suhagpur Powal was injured when a shell exploded on a road while he was coming out of a rice mill. Two Pakistani soldiers were also killed in retaliatory action by the BSF on Thursday.

Home minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Jammu on September 12 had reiterated his word of advice to the BSF and Army to not to open first fire but stop counting their bullets if Pakistan fired even a one at India.

Meanwhile, security forces have made a list of top most wanted terrorists in Kashmir that includes al-Qaeda’s Zakir Musa.

An army source confided that there were orders from the top to eliminate these terrorists at the earliest to restore normalcy in Kashmir.