Pak shelling kills three; BSF thwarts infiltration bid in J&K border areas

Jammu/Srinagar: Relentless heavy artillery and mortar shelling by Pakistan continued for a third consecutive day on the volatile Jammu and Kashmir border following ‘Operation Sindoor’, claiming three lives, while the BSF thwarted a major infiltration attempt, killing seven terrorists.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday rushed to Jammu from Srinagar to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the largest Pakistani drone attack while Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited the shelling-hit Uri sector.

Warning Pakistan that continued escalation from across the border would only hurt them, Abdullah called Thursday’s aerial strikes on Jammu one of the “most serious assaults” on the city since the 1971 war and said Pakistan should focus on de-escalation amid the ongoing military conflict. Tension between the two neighbours soared after the Indian Armed Forces on Wednesday conducted precision strikes targeting terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also urged India and Pakistan to de-escalate the situation to prevent destruction.

According to the army, Pakistan carried out large-scale airspace violations on the intervening night of May 8 and 9 by attempting to target military infrastructure with 300 to 400 drones across 36 locations from Leh to Sir Creek, including Jammu city.

“Indian forces neutralised many using kinetic and non-kinetic means… Pakistan escalated with artillery and drone attacks across the LoC (Line of Control), causing casualties. Alarmingly, Pakistan kept its civil airspace open during the assault, endangering civilian flights,” the army said.

Pakistani shelling claimed the life of civilian Mohd Abrar and injured three others, including his wife, when their homes were hit, officials said and added a soldier, sepoy M Murali Naik from Andhra Pradesh, laid down his life during the cross-border shelling in Poonch. In Baramulla’s Uri sector, intense overnight cross-border shelling resulted in the death of a woman and injuries to several others, including a soldier, the officials said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) successfully thwarted an infiltration attempt across the International Border in Jammu’s Samba district.

The BSF’s surveillance grid detected a large group of terrorists around 11 pm on Thursday, leading to an engagement that resulted in the death of at least seven infiltrators and the destruction of the Pakistan Rangers’ Dhandhar post, which had provided support fire.