Five persons, including a girl, were killed and seven injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops in the Karnah and Uri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir, according to police sources.

Those killed in Karnah (Kupwara district) have been identified as truck driver Abdul Hamid Dar, Arif Lone, Ghulam Nabi Joo and Sajad Ahmad.

The sources said some houses were damaged in the shelling which began on Wednesday afternoon and continued till midnight.

In the second incident, a girl, identified as Kuki, was killed when Pakistani troops shelled Kamalkote village in Baramulla district, police sources said.

The sudden escalation in cross-border shelling caused panic among the inhabitants, most of whom shifted to safer places.

This is for the first time this year that Pakistani troops shelled the forward villages so heavily, the sources said.

They said the shelling was carried out apparently to push armed militants into the valley as the army had foiled four infiltration bids in May killing about 20 militants in the Kupwara sector.

Troops have been asked to intensify vigil all along the border to foil any attempt by militants to sneak into the Kashmir valley, the sources said.

With inputs from PTI