Our Correspondent
Muzaffarabad
At least 11 people, including four children, were injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Kotli district on Sunday. A mortar shell, fired by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC), hit a house where a wedding function was underway injuring the inhabitants
Indian forces had resorted to “unprovoked” shelling, which continued for over an hour, at around 10am in the Seri sector, Khuiratta subdivision Assistant Commissioner Syed Naseem Abbas said.
Initial reports had suggested that one of the victims, a seven-year-old girl named Hoorain, had been martyred. It later emerged, however, that she was unconscious due to traumatic brain injury.
The child is in critical condition and will undergo surgery at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Rawalpindi tomorrow. Three other children, aged five, nine and 10 years, also among the injured.
Another victim, 50-year-old Zoobena Ajaib, who suffered several fractures, was also being shifted to CMH, Rawalpindi owing to her serious condition.
Other victims include Hoorain’s mother Sajida Kausar, 35, Suman, 20, Muhammad Hanif, 60, Sarwar Jan, 55, Arooj Zaroob, 22 and 50-yearl-old Khurshid Begum.
Due to a government-imposed lockdown, the wedding was being held at home, AC Abbas said. He further said that two victims had been discharged from a local health facility after treatment, while the remaining injured were taken to District Headquarters Hospital, Kotli.
Medical Superintendent Dr Nasrullah Sadiq said that seven victims had been admitted at the DHQ Hospital and were out of danger.
Earlier, rumours that Hoorain had passed away had circulated on social media and even AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider had said that she had been martyred.
