M A I N   N E W S

90 houses burnt in Pak shelling
18,000 flee border villages

An Indian policeman stands beside a burnt house after overnight mortar shelling at Pansar village, 75 km south of Jammu, on Thursday. — Reuters photo

A displaced family cooking their meal at a migrant camp in Jammu on Wednesday. — PTI photo

Jammu, May 23
Ninety houses have been gutted and nearly 18,000 persons have migrated from 50 border villages of Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir following shelling and firing by Pakistani troops from across the international border since yesterday, official sources said here today.

Pakistani troops targeted Manyari, Pansar, Bobiyan and some of the adjoining villages in the district with mortar shells from 12.30 p.m. yesterday from across the international border, they said.

The shells hit Manyari village destroying houses and standing crops. The fire also spread to adjoining villages and continued till midnight.

People fled from the villages to safer places although authorities rushed fire tenders to control the fire.

The sources said about 18,000 persons had migrated from 50 border villages to safer places in Kathua district during the past 24 hours.

Reports from Rajouri district said shelling between two sides along the Line of Control took place in Noushera, Laam and Jhangar areas since morning. There were, however, no casualties or damage on the Indian side.

Small arms intermittent firing also took place last night in R.S. Pura, Samba, Pallanwala and Poonch sectors, they added.

Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged more than 2,400 mortar shells in Rajouri district since last night amid fresh reports of people fleeing their villages along the international border.

Highly-placed security sources said here this morning that Pakistani troops from the 10 Corps opened unprovoked heavy fire from 82 MM mortar guns in the Jhangar area targeting Indian bunkers and ammunition dumps.

Indian soldiers also retaliated from similar calibre weapons and the showdown continued for the next three hours.

The exact extent of damage sustained by Pakistani troops could not be immediately ascertained.

The Pakistan army is reported to have rushed in fresh reinforcements and additional military hardware along the international border and the LoC while the elite commandos of the Special Services Group (SSG) have begun fortifying forward bunkers and re-locating gun positions, the sources said, quoting inputs from various quarters.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has deployed medium range ballistic missile batteries all along the LoC, in almost all sectors from Akhnoor to Poonch, while rushing in more troops from One Corps to reinforce the ranks of 10 and 30 Corps, during the past 72 hours.

Highly-placed sources said here this afternoon that strategic units of the Pakistan army are engaged in deploying these batteries all along the LoC and in advantageous positions to enable the optimum utilisation of their firepower. PTI, UNI

GURDASPUR (OC): Pakistani forces from across the border, opposite Narot Jaimal Singh sector in the district, resorted to unprovoked firing last night. Indian forces returned the fire. Intermittent firing between Pak and Indian forces continue between 11.30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Empty shells were found in the border village identified as Kotli Jawahar in the district. This is the second time that the village came under fire during this week. The village, along with two other border villages, came under 81 mortar bombs firing on May 19. Empty shells of 81 mortar bombs were recovered from the village.

However, no loss of life and property was reported on the Indian side.

Meanwhile, the authorities have got evacuated some border villages, including Jawahar and Bhawalpur.