Baramulla: Four residential houses were completely destroyed and dozens of others suffered severe damages in Balkote and Kamalkote frontier villages of Uri after Indo-Pak army exchanged gunfire and mortar shells along Line of Control (LoC) yesterday.
Residents of the affected frontier villages said that four residential houses were razed and dozens others suffered extensive damages after artillery shells hit them.
They said residential house of Abdul Gani Shiekh, son of Abdul Gaffar Sheikh and house of his son Parvaiz Ahmad Sheikh in Balkote were completely destroyed as they caught fire.
House of Bashir Ahmad Dar of Balkote, who also lost his wife Farooqi Begum to the shelling, was damaged and two other houses were also destroyed in Dena Balkote and Kamalkote.
“We want both India and Pakistan to put end to the ceasefire violations or rehabilitate us at safer places where we can live peaceful life,” said Abdul Gani Sheikh.
Official sources said that teams were sent to the border areas affected by shelling to assess the damage and as per initial reports, 13 residential houses suffered extensive damages while as dozens others suffered partial damage.
“It was all smoke and explosions of motor shells which rattled the village. I have lost my wife who is mother of five kids. She has also left a 17-months-old child Rutba behind,” said Bashir Ahmad Dar.
“She (baby Rutba) has been crying all night for her mother. But how can we console Rutba, who is just 17-months-old,” said Rubeena, the sister of slain Farooqi Begum.
Although there has been a lull in the firing and shelling since yesterday evening, however, panic-stricken families are still in the state of shock and awe.
Pertinently, four civilians including a woman and a child, four Army-men and a Sub Inspector (SI) of Broader Security Force (BSF) were killed while as 10 persons including five troopers sustained injuries after armies of India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery shelling and gunfire in frontier sectors across the LoC in north Kashmir’s Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora district yesterday.
LoC shelling aftermath: 36-yr-old man from Uri looses both legs
Baramulla: Syed Nadir Hussain (36) from Kamalkote area of Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, who was injured during cross-border shelling on Friday, has lost both his legs.
The injured was hit by a shell yesterday during the cross-border shelling and was immediately rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
Although Hussain, son of Peer Hussain, is stable now, but as per the officials, the 36-year-old has lost both of his legs to critical injuries.
Block Medical Officer (BMO) Uri, Dr Ramzan confirmed that Hussain has lost his legs in the shelling, news agency KNO reported.
He said many other injured were also brought to Uri hospital. He identified some of them as Sajad Khan (62), son of Muhammad Aslam Khan of Balkote; Saif-ud-din Qureshi (63), son of Fiqur Ullaha Qureshi of Kamalkote, Hakim Bee (50), wife of Abdul Hamid of Gohallan and Sarfraz Ahmad (18), son of Lateif Ahmad of Gohallan Uri.
He added that one among the injured persons was discharged yesterday while the others were shifted to Baramulla hospital for further treatment. (KNO)
