‘No breakfast, no sleep’: J&K border residents flee homes, take shelter in bunkers amid heavy Pakistani shelling

Amid heavy shelling from the Pakistani army along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), residents were forced to shift from areas located near the LoC to safer locations.

Panic and fear gripped border villages in Rajouri, Poonch and other J&K districts after “unprovoked artillery and mortar shelling” from Pakistan late last night, reports said.

Some residents reportedly spent the night in bulletproof bunkers.

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“They started firing at 2:45 AM. We were asleep when we suddenly heard the noise. Our children woke up, scared and worried. None of us had breakfast or tea,” said Yasir Iqbal, a resident of Niyakapani village in Rajouri, according to news agency ANI.

“People are worried. Those fortunate enough to have found a bunker are inside, lying down. But they have no means to buy food,” Iqbal added.

The residents were exhausted and helpless. The government provided bunkers, the ANI report said citing Sarpanch Abdul Hussain from Neaqa village.

At least 15 people, including four children, were killed and 43 others injured as the Pakistan Army resorted to heavy artillery and mortar shelling on forward villages along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, Defence officials said.

The shelling from across the border was intense till Wednesday noon and later continued intermittently, mostly restricting to the Poonch sector.

Earlier, a defence spokesman said during the intervening night of May 6 and 7, the Pakistan Army resorted to arbitrary firing, including artillery shelling, from posts across the LoC and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Army said that it is responding in a “proportionate manner” to the unprovoked aggression.

‘Operation Sindoor’

The intense shelling from across the border started shortly after Indian armed forces carried out missile attacks under ‘Operation Sindoor’ at nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India launched airstrikes to avenge the April 22 terror attack in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam that had left 26 civilians dead.

Earlier on Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Col Sofiya Qureshi, and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh briefed the media about Operation Sindoor.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said that ‘Operation Sindoor’ was launched to deliver justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and their families.

“Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian Armed Forces to deliver justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and their families. Nine terrorist camps were targeted and successfully destroyed... The locations were so selected to avoid damage to civilian infrastructures and loss of any civilian lives,” Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said.

During the briefing, Col Sofiya Qureshi presented the videos of the destruction of terror camps, including from Muridke, where David Headley and Ajmal Kasab, perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, received training.

Col Qureshi said the Indian Army targeted other camps in Sialkot, including Muridke, Sarjal camp, Barnala, Markaz Ahle Hadith, Markaz Abbas, Kotli, and Mehmoona Joya camp.