KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Over 26,000 residents of border villages in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts Friday migrated to safer places as the authorities declared areas close to the international border “out of bounds for all civilian movement”.
Media reports quoting officials of the JK government said villagers living close to the borders in these districts of the Jammu region were migrating from their homes to safer places away from the range of Pakistani shelling since Thursday night.
Pakistan stepped up firing across the LoC and the international border on Thursday night in what is seen as retaliation after Indian claimed that it carried attacks in Pakistani territory.
“Over 26,000 residents of border villages in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts have migrated from their homes till Friday morning,” reports quoted provincial administration officials.
“These families have been lodged in temporary accommodations including school buildings, community halls and religious places,” an official said.
“Some of these families having relatives living at places away from the border have shifted in with them,” he said.
Educational institutions in these areas also remained closed on Friday as a precautionary measure.
Critical care ambulances, disaster rescue and relief teams of the Jammu and Kashmir government have also been placed on high alert and deployed in the border areas in the Jammu region.
