A minor and a woman were among three civilians killed as the Pakistani army violated the ceasefire by resorting to the firing of small arms and mortar shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday.

The deceased were identified as Shameena Begum, Javeed Khan and Zayan, an 8-year-old boy. Sources said Pakistan targeted Shararat post, Jal Black Rock, and Anil posts along the LoC and resorted to heavy mortar shelling.

Several shells landed in civilian areas, damaging houses and killing three civilians, they said. This comes just a day after massive cross border shelling was reported in the area.

An army official earlier said that this afternoon Pakistan resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation creating fear among the local population and targeted Indian army posts. They said that the initial fire started from Hajitara, Dhani and later the firing spread in the areas like Manzgam, Malikpora, TCP, Hafrada, Kralpora and Tumna Hachimarg Chowkibal.

He said the shelling was started by Pakistan and Indian army responded in equal proportions.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Kupwara, Shriram Ambarkar confirmed the killing of civilians in the shelling. “The assessment and evacuation process is underway and people are being moved to safer places,” he said.

With coronavirus pandemic spreading chaos everywhere, a source said, Pakistan army was trying to take advantage of the crisis and push militants into Jammu and Kashmir.

In the recent days, several attempts were made by the infiltrators with Pakistani army giving them covering fire along the LoC in Kupwara and Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu region.

There were a total of 646 incidents of ceasefire violations along the International Border (IB) as well as the LoC between January 1 and February 23 this year, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in March.

Over 3,200 ceasefire violations by Pakistan troops were recorded in 2019. There is 198 km IB and over 510 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.