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J&K official among 4 people killed in Pak shelling as drones attacks continue
Two-year-old Aisha Noor was among those killed in Pakistani shelling along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)
An administrative officer was among four people killed in Pakistani shelling in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s Rajouri along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto India-Pakistan border in the region, even as armed drones from Pakistan targeted multiple places across the northern frontier for a third day.
An official said Rajouri’s additional district development commissioner, Raj Kumar Thapa, and his two staff members were injured when an artillery shell hit his residence. The three were rushed to a hospital, where Thapa died.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah condoled Thapa’s death in a post on X, “Devastating news from Rajouri. We have lost a dedicated officer of the J-K Administration Services. Just yesterday [Friday], he was accompanying the Deputy CM [chief minister] around the district and attended the online meeting I chaired,” he wrote.
Two-year-old Aisha Noor and Mohammad Shohib, 35, who were from Bihar, were killed, and three others were injured in Pakistani shelling near an industrial area in Rajouri. In Poonch’s Mendhar, Rashida Bi, 62, died in the shelling. The fresh killings took the toll from Pakistani shelling in Rajouri and Poonch to 19 since Wednesday night.
In Jammu and other major nearby towns, air raid sirens and deafening sounds of explosions shattered a brief lull in the cross-border attacks around 4:15am on Saturday.
A girl was among those injured when a house and a Shiva temple were hit in Jammu’s Rehari Colony and Upper Roop Nagar early Saturday. Balvinder Singh, a Rehari Colony resident, said the girl suffered stomach injuries and another member of her family had a fracture.
A wave of drone and missile attacks on Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, and shelling in Rajouri and Poonch districts on Friday prompted India’s retaliation. Officials said India’s air defence system intercepted Pakistani drones.
The Indian Army responded with artillery fire along the LoC. “In Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan targeted Jammu, Samba, Awantipora and Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch,” said a defence official.
Abdullah said the Pakistani attacks started around 8.15pm, even as the frequency of blasts and their intensity was low. “Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am,” Abdullah wrote on X.
Seven to eight loud explosions were heard near Jammu airport. There were no immediate reports of loss of life or injuries.
Around 8pm, sirens rang in Jammu, followed by a blackout minutes later. A blackout was also imposed in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, Rajouri, Poonch, and Katra, the base camp of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. The pilgrimage to the shrine remained unaffected.
Defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said drones were sighted at 26 locations from Baramulla (J&K) in the north to Bhuj (Gujarat) in the south. “These include suspected armed drones posing potential threats to civilian and military targets.”
An armed drone targeted a civilian area in Punjab’s Ferozpur, resulting in injuries to members of a family on Friday. People, especially in border areas, were advised to remain indoors, limit unnecessary movement, and strictly follow safety instructions.
In Punjab, the Army intercepted and neutralised armed drones directed at the Khasa cantonment on the Amritsar-Attari road on Saturday. The Army’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) posted on X: “Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western borders. In one such incident, today [Saturday] at approximately 5am, multiple enemy armed drones were spotted flying over Khasa Cantt, Amritsar. The hostile drones were instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units. Pakistan’s blatant attempt to violate India’s sovereignty and endanger civilians is unacceptable. The Indian Army will thwart enemy designs.”
A drone fell in the courtyard of a house at Wadala in Amritsar, sparking a fire. Residents doused the flames before they could cause much damage. The wreckage of a projectile was found scattered over a km area in the fields of Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera. Debris of a suspected missile was found at Amritsar’s Muglani Kot following an explosion around 5am. Residents said they heard a drone flying overhead before the explosion, followed by a plane sound. The explosion created a crater. Drones were spotted and blasts were heard in neighbouring Pathankot.
Residents said a migrant labourer was injured and a few houses were damaged when a projectile landed in a residential area at Jalandhar’s Kanganiwal village early Saturday. “I was near a window when an object hit a water tank [of a house] around 1.30am, shattering window panes of four or five houses,” a resident said.
Satinder Kumar, another resident, said the water tank of her house was damaged, and the window panes were shattered. “There was smoke all around.” The explosion also damaged a car. Surjit Kaur, an eyewitness, said a red-coloured light flashed in the sky, followed by the explosion.
A red alert was sounded in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur following inputs from the Indian armed forces on Saturday morning. Jalandhar deputy commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal ordered the closure of markets in Jalandhar Cantonment and Adampur, where a key Indian Air Force installation is situated.
Aggarwal said all shopping malls and high-rise buildings were directed to be closed. An advisory asked people to avoid movement in open spaces.
Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Aashika Jain said markets were shut in Kapurthala and Phagwara after inputs from the armed forces. Air raid sirens were sounded in Bathinda after an explosion near a defence installation at Bhisiana on Saturday morning.
Sirens were sounded in Bathinda four times between Friday night and Saturday morning. A blackout was imposed as a precautionary measure. Officials said multiple drone attacks were thwarted in Punjab’s Ferozepur and Fazilka districts.
The fresh attacks came as Pakistan continued to ratchet up hostilities for the third day and also targeted multiple places in Rajasthan and Gujarat with drones on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue advisories and restrict public gatherings and movement in parts of the region.
India hit back on Friday night after repelling strikes at 26 locations along the northwestern frontier as hostilities increased and sparked fears of a full-blown New Delhi-Islamabad conflict. On Thursday, Pakistan targeted 36 locations inside India with 300 to 400 Turkish-origin armed drones and used civilian airliners as a shield to attack military sites. India retaliated and struck Pakistan’s air defence systems at four places and destroyed one of them.
The Pakistani drone strikes on military sites on Friday night were the third wave of attacks since India launched Operation Sindoor and struck nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir on Wednesday in response to the killing of 25 tourists and a resident in the Pahalgam terror attack last month.
On Wednesday night, India thwarted Pakistani attacks on 15 places. India repelled attacks at 36 locations on Thursday night. India has launched a swift counter-attack, inflicting damage on Pakistani air defence systems. The escalations are the worst face-off between the two countries in decades.
