Students stuck in schools amid heavy Pak shelling on LoC

Jammu, July 18
The Rajouri administration on Tuesday launched an operation to rescue students trapped at Kadali and Sahar schools after the Pakistan Army resorted to indiscriminate shelling and firing in the Rajouri and Poonch districts along the LoC.
Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said many students were trapped in the schools amid heavy firing from Pakistan side.The authorities have also sounded an alert and advised residents to stay indoors. Field officers have been deputed for coordination, said Choudhary.
A population of 4,500-5,000 in the villages of Panjgrain, Rajdhani and Naika in the Rajouri-Poonch belt was affected due to the shelling by Pakistani troops, he said.
“The Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatic weapons and mortars from 6.45 am in the Bhimbher Gali (Rajouri) and Poonch sectors along the Line of Control,” a Defence spokesperson said.
The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively, he said.
An Army jawan and a nine-year-old girl were yesterday killed while four persons injured in heavy firing and mortar shelling by the Pakistan Army along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla districts.