Pakistan shelling kills 2 in Jammu and Kashmir, forces evacuation

The Indian Army said it was retaliating “strongly and effectively” to the Pakistani Army’s indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatic weapons and 82 mm and 120 mm mortars which started at 7.15 am.

Pakistani troops targeted Jangarh, Bhawani and Laam belts of Nowshera in Rajouri district, officials said. “Two persons have been killed and three others injured in the firing and shelling by Pakistani Army in Nowshera belt,” Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Rajouri Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said. 

In the wake of Pakistani shelling, schools along the LoC in Rajouri were on Saturday shut for an indefinite period as a precautionary measure, officials said. 

All schools situated along the LoC in Rajouri district were closed from May 11 for two days after a woman was killed and two others including her husband were injured in Pakistani shelling on the intervening night of May 1011. 

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, “There are no two opinions. Pakistan knows that they cannot defeat India. They cannot fight a war against India and therefore what they are doing is, it is their strategy. But it will be defeated, even as they are isolated in the international forum,” he told the media in Bengaluru.