ISLAMABAD – Indian Military has resorted to unprovoked fire at the Line ofControl today in presence of the U.N. Military Observers.

Three members of the United Nations Military Observers Mission for Indiaand Pakistan (UNMOGIP) had a close call along the restive Line of Control(LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday after Indian troops shot atand injured two locals who were briefing them on the situation prevailingin the wake of ceasefire violations, officials and residents said, DawnNews has reported.

The incident occurred at noon in Abbaspur sector of Poonch district wherethe UN observers had reached in two white vehicles hoisting blue UN flags,Qazi Arslan, a police official in Abbaspur, told *Dawn* by phone.

“The UN observers were interacting with local people in Polas village whensuddenly Indian troops resorted to burst firing from across the dividingline located hardly one kilometre away from there,” the official said.

The firing left two people — identified as Sardar Saghir and Muhammad AzamQureshi of Polas and its neighbouring Taroti village, respectively —critically injured.

“It was yet another incident of targeted firing which has become a hallmarkof Indian troops manning the bloody dividing line,” said Chaudhry SaqibMushtaq, a civil society activist in the area.