Jammu, May 9 -- The cross-border artillery and mortar shelling from the Pakistani army along the Line of Control (LoC) has left behind a trail of death and destruction in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, with local residents mourning the loss of innocent lives, including four children. The intensity of Pakistani shelling, which has been going on unprovoked for a few weeks in violation of ceasefire agreement, increased on Wednesday, hours after Indian armed forces conducted airstrikes on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Operation Sindoor, leaving 13 dead and 59 others injured, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. "Vihaan Bhargav, 13, son of my friend and colleague Sanjeev Kumar Bhargav, lost his life after a Pakistani mortar shell hit their car in Bhainch. The shell hit the little boy on his head and the sight of his scalp hanging and blood oozing out of his head was heart wrenching," Ajay Maini, 49, a government school teacher in Poonch said. After weathering Pakistani shelling on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, Bhargav and his family decided to flee Poonch town when their Maruti Swift car was hit by a mortar fired from across the border at Bhainch on NH144-A on Wednesday. "Around 1.15 am on Wednesday, we woke up to loud explosions. I went upstairs on the roof and saw mortars being fired at the town. I huddled my wife and two children to a room and prayed for our lives," Maini, a resident of Sandigate mohalla in Poonch town, recalled. Hours later, Maini said, he heard another loud explosion that shook his house. "For a moment, we thought that our house had been hit. Soon, we found out that an artillery fire had struck my neighbour Amarjeet Singh's house," he said, adding that a mortar had hit Singh on the chest. "Three to four of his family members were also injured in the attack. Singh was rushed to the Poonch hospital, where he succumbed." Maini and many others in the town, which wore a deserted look after majority of the population fled to safety, said that the region on Wednesday witnessed the heaviest shelling from the Pakistani side in decades. Maini, who was heading to Jammu with his family, said that around 90% of the town's population has shifted to Surankote or Jammu. All 13 deaths in Pakistani shelling on Wednesday were reported in the Poonch sector, the MEA said, adding that 44 of the 59 injured were also in the area. Vicky Gupta, 24, a local resident, said only 100 to 150 families are left in Poonch town. Recalling the horror of the noisy night, one that he spent alone at home, Gupta said: "My parents were away in Jammu. I called up my father around 1.50 am and informed him about intense shelling. He asked me to take refuge in the basement. I spent my night in the basement of 12x12 feet to save my life." Gupta left the town on his motorcycle later on Wednesday. Pradeep Khanna, a 68-year-old retired education department official, said the border district of Poonch, south of Pir Panjal range, remains vulnerable to Pakistani shelling because of its geographical location. Spread across 1,674 sqkm, Poonch has nearly 500,000 population. "Poonch city alone has over one lakh population, comprising of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs in almost equal proportion. Muslims, however, remain a majority in the district," Khanna, a witness to 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, said. For the unversed, Poonch town is surrounded by Pakistan from Ajote, Digwar, Malti and Gulpur sectors, where its army sits on dominating positions. While the aerial distance from the LoC to Poonch town varies between 500 metres to 1km, the road distance is around 3 to 4 kms. An eerie silence prevailed in Poonch town and villages such as Jhallas, Salotri, Digwar, Ajote, Khari, Gulpur and Nalla on the LoC. Haveli MLA Ajaz Jan visited border areas in Poonch district to assess the damages. He took stock of the situation and met the affected residents. The senior National Conference (NC) leader demanded Rs.10-lakh compensation for the families of the deceased and Rs.1 lakh for the injured. J&K minister Satish Sharma on Thursday visited the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, and to enquire about the health of injured civilians. He assured them of full support from the NC government....