Raj Kumar Thapa, Additional District Development Commissioner of Rajouri, was among the victims.

A senior government official and four others were killed in intense Pakistani shelling across Rajouri, Poonch, and Jammu districts of Jammu and Kashmir early Saturday, officials confirmed, marking a deadly escalation in cross-border hostilities. The shelling, part of ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan, has left several others injured and caused widespread damage to civilian infrastructure.

Raj Kumar Thapa, Additional District Development Commissioner of Rajouri, was among the victims. An artillery shell struck his official residence in Rajouri town, severely injuring him and two of his staff members. All three were rushed to the Government Medical College, where Thapa succumbed to his injuries. The condition of his staff members remains critical, according to hospital sources.

The other fatalities included two-year-old Aisha Noor and 35-year-old Mohd Shohib, killed in shelling near an industrial area in Rajouri, and 55-year-old Rashida Bi, who lost her life when a mortar shell hit her home in Kanghra-Galhutta village in Poonch’s Mendhar sector. In Jammu district, Ashok Kumar, a resident of Bidipur Jatta village, was killed in cross-border firing along the International Border in the R S Pura sector.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed profound grief over Thapa’s death, calling it a “devastating loss.” In a post on X, he wrote, “Just yesterday, he was accompanying the Deputy CM around the district and attended the online meeting I chaired. Today, his residence was hit by Pak shelling, killing our dedicated officer.”

The shelling, which began in the early hours, targeted civilian areas, damaging homes, schools, and religious sites, including a gurdwara and a mosque. Authorities reported that several residents in Jammu city’s Rehari and Rupnagar areas were injured when artillery shells and suspected drones struck residential zones. The Indian Army responded with proportionate retaliation, targeting Pakistani posts along the Line of Control (LoC).

The attacks follow India’s ‘Operation Sindoor,’ a series of strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. Pakistan’s intensified shelling has claimed at least 16 lives in recent days, including women and children, prompting evacuations in five border districts.