Pakistan shelling kills 5 family members in India Kashmir: India

19 March 2018 10:20 am

 

JAMMU, (The Washington Post), 18 March 2018 -  Five members of a family were killed and two others wounded on Sunday in cross border shelling between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in disputed Kashmir, officials said.  


The five were killed after a shell fired by Pakistani soldiers hit their home in Poonch region along the militarized Line of Control that divides the Himalayan territory between the two nuclear-armed rivals, said S.P. Vaid, the police chief.  


The dead included a woman, two children and a teenage boy. Vaid said the injured have been hospitalized and authorities were evacuating civilians from the area amid shelling and firing.   India’s army said its soldiers were responding to what it called unprovoked violation of the 2003 cease-fire agreement between the two countries.  


Pakistan did not immediately comment. However, both the nuclear-armed rivals routinely blame the other for starting any firing and insist they are only retaliating.