Residents survey damage from shelling in Kupwara, J&K on Monday. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

On Sunday afternoon, as shells started landing nearby, 40-year-old Shameema in Reddi village of Kupwara locked her house and ran out, fearing for her life. Just then, a shell exploded, killing her on the spot.

Shameema was among three civilians killed in North Kashmir’s Kupwara on Sunday. “Shells landed so fast that we didn’t have time to escape to safety,” Shameema’s husband G M Hajam told The Indian Express.

Reddi is barely 25 km from Kupwara town. With tension on the LoC escalating in the last few days, mortars fired by Pakistan army have started landing deep inside Kupwara. Sunday’s shelling was the second such instance in three days. “We can’t even run for safety because of the coronavirus. We cannot gather at one place. At the same time, we are caught between two armies,” said Janta Begum, a resident of Reddi, who was among the few villagers outside Shameema’s house to console the family.

“Many families left the village because there is a rumour that shelling may happen again. Others are living in fear,” said a local resident. A few hundred metres from Shameema’s house is the residence of 17- year- old Javid Ahmad Khan, who was also killed in Sunday’s shelling. He had gone out to buy vegetables.

“The world is fighting the coronavirus. See how India and Pakistan are engaged in mindless violence,” said G M Khan, Javid’s relative. “Both countries should allow us to live in peace.”

Firdous Ahmad, Javid’s brother, agreed, “We have to fight two problems. If we go outside, there is coronavirus scare, and if we stay home, shells land on our houses.”

Opposite Reddi is Tumna village, which is divided by a nallah. Eight-year-old Zain Bashir from Tumna was the third casualty in Sunday’s shelling. He was outside his house when a shell landed on his neighbour’s house and a splinter hit his head, said his family.

Saif Ali, his uncle, said, “His mother is in shock and his father is admitted in a Srinagar hospital,” he said. “The shelling has left us devastated.” What has worried some villages is that the Army has moved heavy weaponry to new areas. “They brought heavy weapons near our area. But people objected and they [Army] didn’t come again,” said a villager from Malikpora in Kupwara.