A 24-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday in heavy shelling by the Pakistan Army, targeting villages along the Line of Control(LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said.

Shameema Akhtar, a resident of Noona-Bandi, was killed in the Pakistani shelling in the Shahpur sector, said Poonch District DevelopmentCommissioner Rahul Yadav. He said four buffaloes also perished in the Pakistani shelling on forward villages and posts since the morning. Earlier, a defence spokesperson said the Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire by resorting tosmall-arms firing and mortar shelling in the Qasba and Kirni sectors of Pooncharound 9.30am.

The Indian Army retaliated effectively to silence thePakistani guns, but the casualties suffered by the other side were not knownimmediately, he said. A police officer said the firing intensified as the daypassed and spread to the nearby Shahpur sector, causing panic among the borderresidents.Most of the people stayed indoors, the official said, adding thatAkhtar was hit by splinters after a mortar shell landed near her. Severalhouses suffered damages in the cross-border shelling, he said.A heavy exchangeof fire was underway when the last reports were received, the official added.The death of the woman raised the number of fatalities in Pakistani firingalong the LoC in the past four days to three. Earlier, two Army jawans werekilled in two separate incidents of ceasefire violation in the Nowshera sectorof Rajouri district and the Uri sector in Baramulla district on Friday andSunday, respectively.