Cross-border firing between India, Pakistan kills five civilians
Wed May 23, 2018 03:48PM
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An Indian villager stands next to the damaged ceiling of his home following cross-border firing between India and Pakistan, in Arnia sector, about 35 kilometers from Jammu, on May 23, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Cross-border firing and shelling between Indian and Pakistani forces along their Kashmir border have claimed the lives of five civilians on the sixth day of clashes.
"Five residents have died in the cross border shelling so far," local divisional officer Hemant Kumar Sharma said Wednesday.
The latest casualties took the death toll in the confrontations to 16 since the eruption of the clashes on Friday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Indian Kashmir's director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid, said that 30 were injured overnight in Pakistani firing.
At least 80,000 people from scores of villages along the 200- kilometer (125-mile) long border between the Jammu region in Indian-controlled Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Punjab have fled their homes since May 18.
"Some have gone to their relatives and for others we are arranging shelter, food and water," Sharma said.
India has shut all schools within five kilometers of the frontier and government troops evacuated panicked residents who left behind homes and cattle using armored vehicles.
An Indian man displays mortar shrapnel and points to a mortar impact point on the roof of a house following cross-border firing between India and Pakistan, in Arnia sector about 35 km from Jammu on May 23, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
The Indian and Pakistani militaries held talks this week but failed to calm one of the deadliest waves of violence this year.
On Tuesday, an Indian soldier and an eight-month-old baby were killed. Another nine people died on the first day of fighting on both sides of the border, just before a visit to Kashmir by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"People are helping each other to flee. Police are also helping in evacuating vulnerable border residents," Vaid said.
Another police officer, who asked not to be named, described the flare-up as a "war-like situation" in the affected districts of Samba, R.S Pura, Akhnoor and Arnia.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their partition and independence from Britain in 1947. The disputed region is claimed in full by both sides, which have fought three wars over it.
Despite a ceasefire agreement that was reached between India and Pakistan in November 2003, sporadic skirmishes continue in Kashmir.
