Sources said students were in classrooms when Pakistani troops suddenly started firing mortar shells and small arms

POONCH: Nearly a dozen students of the Government Middle School at Dabraj in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district had a narrow escape on Thursday morning when Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling and small arms fire from across the Line of Control.

Sources said students were in classrooms when Pakistani troops suddenly started firing mortar shells and small arms. As the shells fells in close vicinity to the school, which is situated on a hill, the teachers shifted students to a safer room.

Parents rushed to the school to bring back their children, but they were stuck as the firing and shelling continued. When firing stopped after over an hour, teachers allowed students to return home.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Lt Colonel Devender Anand said that “at about 1130 hours, Pakistan initiated ceasefire violation by firing of small arms and shelling with mortars in Mendhar”. “Indian Army retaliated befittingly,” he added.

Ever since the Centre scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and reorganised the state into two Union territories, there has been a rise in incidents of unprovoked firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani troops along the LoC. On Wednesday morning, they had initiated ceasefire violation along the LoC in Rajouri district’s Keri sector, sources said, adding that three soldiers have been killed in Pakistani firing in the past one week.