ISLAMABAD - Indian security forces killed a young boy and injured three other members of his family in Leepa Valley of AJK after they resorted to unprovoked heavy shelling in the area on Friday.
According to a press statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Indian CFVs continued despite facing loses of men and material inflicted by Pakistan Army's response. The statement said that Indian Army on Friday targeted innocent civilians in Gheekot and Mandal villages of Lipa sector where civilians were preparing for Jumma prayers.
“A young boy embraced shahadat (martyred) while four civilians got injuries”, said the statement adding that Pakistan Army effectively responded and killed three Indian soldiers and injuring many others while three Indian posts were destroyed.
ISPR said that Pakistan Army stands by its innocent civil population and would continue to respond befittingly.
Leepa Valley is located some 100km south-east of Muzaffarabad in Jhelum Valley district, which was earlier known as Hattian Bala district.
On June 8, four members of a family were injured in Leepa Valley in overnight exchange of heavy fire across the restive LoC.
The latest casualties have raised the death toll of Indian shelling in Jammu and Kashmir since January to 23 while the number of injured has swelled to 165, according to government officials.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Army strongly rejected Indian claims of targeting civilian population across LOC in IOK.
According to ISPR, the accusation was made by Indian DGMO during special hotline contact with Pak DGMO today on Indian Army's request.
"Pakistan Army is a professional force and considers it absolutely unethical to target the civil population more so when our own Pakistani Kashmiris live across. Pakistan Army targets only those Indian posts which initiate firing on innocent civilians," DG ISPR said.
INDIAN TROOPS SHOOT DEAD KASHMIRI PROTESTER
Agencies add: The Indian army opened fire on a group of stone-throwing protesters Friday, killing one youth and injuring another in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The demonstrators had gathered in the town of Beerwah after senior Kashmiri leaders called for a strike against Indian rule.
Indian soldiers opened fire after mistaking a firecracker for a grenade explosion, police said. "Someone among these miscreants (protesters) ... hurled a firecracker towards the army men. Because of the bang the army men thought a grenade was hurled and they retaliated," the statement said.
Authorities have imposed a curfew in parts of the main city of Srinagar where Kashmir leaders had called for a march to the office of a UN military observers group to protest against recent civilian killings and arrest of dozens of political activists.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947, but both claim the Himalayan territory in full.
For decades rebel groups have fought roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting which had subsided in recent years but armed encounters between rebels and government forces have become more frequent since security forces killed a popular rebel commander in July.