An eight-month-old baby on Tuesday died of bullet injuries sustained during the crossfire between Indian and Pakistani security forces along the International Border in Sherpalai, the Greater Kashmir reported. The crossfire began on Sunday. Indian security officials said two civilians also sustained injuries after Pakistani Rangers opened fire along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, PTI reported.
The officer in charge of the police post in Pallanwala, Yash Pal, said doctors confirmed that the child had died of a bullet wound, the daily reported.
The injured included a 70-year-old woman identified as Kaushalya Devi, and Madan Lal Bhagat, a resident of Pindi Charkan village in Arnia. Jammu Inspector General of Police S D Singh Jamwal said Bhagat sustained injuries after a mortar shell hit his house. He is being treated for his injuries at the Government medical College.
“The cross-border firing and shelling continued unabated and has spread to all sectors from Akhnoor to Samba along the IB,” a unidentified Border Security Force official told PTI. Security forces are engaged in a gun battle.
Police are working on relocating people living in the affected areas to safer ground. Jammu Divisional Commissioner Hemant Kumar Sharma said relief camps have been set up near the international border after Pakistan initiated heavy mortar shelling.
On May 20, reports claimed that Pakistan Rangers had “pleaded” with the Border Security Force to stop firing along the International Border. “The Pakistan Rangers called up Jammu BSF formation today and beseeched to stop firing,” an unidentified BSF spokesperson told PTI. The “befitting reply by BSF units to the unprovoked shelling and firing” by Pakistan had “forced them to plead for a ceasefire”, another official was quoted as saying.
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