Civilian injured as Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in J-K's Poonch district

A civilian was critically injured on Saturday as Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by targeting forward posts and villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. Mohammad Mushtaq was hit by splinters of a mortar shell which exploded near his house at Narala village in Mankote sector, the officials said. They said the critically injured civilian was rushed to hospital

A defence spokesman said the Pakistani Army initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with mortar and firing by small arms from across the border in Mankote and Krishna Ghati sectors at around 2000 hours. The Indian Army retaliated befittingly, he said, adding that the cross-border firing between the two sides was still continuing intermittently. Seven persons, including three soldiers, were killed in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch since India's air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26 in response to the February 14 Pulwama attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel. 

(With PTI inputs)