13 civilians killed, 59 injured in Pakistan’s ceasefire violations along LoC: MEA

The Pakistan Army has used artillery guns in four sectors along the LoC, drawing a befitting response from the Indian Army.

Published on: May 8, 2025, 12:08:09 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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Thirteen civilians have been killed and another 59 injured in Pakistan’s ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

Smoke billows after an artillery shell fired by Pakistan landed in Kashmir’s Poonch district on May 7. (AFP Photo)

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists. The sentiments were exacerbated on Wednesday after the Indian military carried out an action code-named ‘Operation Sindoor’ to target terrorist infrastructure at nine sites in territories controlled by Pakistan.

Pakistani forces have repeatedly violated the ceasefire, which has been in place at the LoC since early 2021, with small arms fire since last month, and they opened up with artillery following the Indian strikes on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

The external affairs ministry said 13 people were killed in the ceasefire violations, with all the fatalities occurring in Poonch district. Another 59 civilians were injured in the truce violations, including 44 in Poonch district.

Pakistani troops violated the February 2021 ceasefire agreement around 15 times between January and early April 2025. But the repeated targetting of Indian posts along the LoC and the international boundary sparked the most extensive cross-border exchanges since the truce was put in place four years ago.

Unlike isolated, brief exchanges that were usually resolved through established channels of communication, the current pattern involves simultaneous salvos at multiple points and has persisted with increasing frequency after the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Pakistan Army has used artillery guns in four sectors along the LoC, drawing a befitting response from the Indian Army, officials said on Thursday. Compared to Wednesday, when the Pakistan Army carried out the most intense artillery and mortar shelling in years to target forward villages in Jammu and Kashmir after India’s strikes, the intensity of cross-border firing was less and restricted to four sectors on Thursday, officials said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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