Civilians injured, houses damaged in Kashmir in cross border firing by Pakistani Army

The entire Gagrian village in Poonch Sector was affected in the firing. More than three people were injured, while some were scared to death.

"The firing came from Pakistan side and four to five houses were completely damaged in that firing. The entire locality was terrified when firing started at around 7 p.m. (1330 GMT). Just a bit behind where we are standing, a bomb dropped and it created a huge blast. Children got very scared. Five to six houses were destroyed and eight people got injured," said a resident of Gagrian village, Mushtaq Ahmed.

Kashmir has witnessed almost uninterrupted ceasefire violation by Pakistan since August 15. The fresh violations came after a gap of more than one month along India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the villagers of Gagrian, the firing continued till midnight and almost all civilians stayed awake all night. They say they have not witnessed this kind of firing in the last decade of militancy reign in the valley.

The injured were taken to the hospital immediately.

"Suddenly the firing started and bombs started blasting along with it. That time people stood wherever they were. When heavy firing started some people ran to their houses, some hid themselves behind large boulders. In the evening, people generally remain busy, work in field, so they hid in different places. Till 11p.m. (1730 GMT) heavy firing continued and we have not seen such firing in the past 18-19 years of militancy," said village head of Gagrian, Khalil Ahmed.

Ahmed said the entire locality got strong tremors as bombs started falling on the village. He added the government should initiate steps to find out permanent solution for people living on the India-Pakistan border.

The troops of arch rivals India and Pakistan intermittently exchange fire on Line of Control (LoC) despite an agreement in 2003 that a ceasefire should be observed along the working boundary.

In 2013, over 200 ceasefire violations were recorded on the LoC, the highest in the last decade.

Both New Delhi and Islamabad blame each other for resorting to unprovoked firings.