Injured in ceasefire violation, 10-day-old injured succumbs to injuries in J&K

Jammu: A 10-day-old baby, injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC), died at a hospital on Monday in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

The infant, his mother Fatima Jan (35) and another civilian Mohammad Arif (40) were injured when mortar shells fired by Pakistan hit their village in Shahpur sector late Sunday.

The injured were rushed to district hospital Poonch, where the minor succumbed to injuries in the early hours of Monday, a police official said.

He said the other two injured were referred to Government Medical College Hospital Jammu for specialised treatment, though their condition was stated to be "stable".

Earlier, Dr Manjeet Singh of District Hospital Poonch said, "The child is still very critical. We have kept him in observation after an operation. The two adults have been shifted to a hospital in Jammu."

Pakistani troops lobbed mortars and used small arms to target forward posts and villages in Shahpur, Saujiyan and Mendhar sectors between 5 pm and 10 pm on Sunday.

Several houses were also damaged in the firing, the official said.

However, there was no fresh report of ceasefire violation by Pakistan from anywhere in the district so far.

The Indian Army retaliated to silence the Pakistani guns but the casualties on Pakistani side was not known immediately, an Army officer said.

On July 22, an Indian soldier was killed in Pakistani firing in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, while a civilian was also injured in another incident of ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Poonch sector on July 20.