Bravery of the wives of two army officers who were staying in the family quarters helped in averting a major hostage crisis during the encounter that took place in Nagrota area of Jammu on Tuesday.

The cross-border firing was severely affecting the mental health of those residing in border areas that witness death and destruction.

Many border residents say that they have been witnessing death closely since the repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

Most of the houses in this village have been abandoned as the residents have migrated to safer places to save themselves from the ceasefire violation from the Pakistani side.

'We are alive only because of these border bunkers,' say residents.

Over two dozen "unprovoked" ceasefire violations by Pakistan have been reported after the army announced that it carried out surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control.

Class 10 student, Surinder Kumar risked his life and returned home from a makeshift camp miles away to collect his books that he could not pick up while fleeing to safety.

Several households along the IB sustained damages in the overnight mortar-shelling from across the border, local residents said.

An uneasy calm prevailed in the Indian village along the International Border in Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir with residents reluctant to return fearing cross-border firing from Pakistan.

In its attempt to clinch majority in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Opposition Peoples Democratic Party is trying to make inroads in Jammu by raking up "regional discrimination" and secularism card to woo the Hindu voters of the region.

The recent breach of ceasefire by Pakistan was aimed at infiltrating Lashkar-e-Tayiba cadres into Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the polls and to bring Kashmir issue back into limelight, as the neighbouring country was feeling isolated with the growing clout of India in the international forum, according to security experts.

Residents of border villages in Jammu who were displaced because of the recent Pakistani shelling say they are too scared to return home despite de-escalation in firing from across the border.

It was apparently a night of horror in Arnia village of RS Pura sector in Jammu district, situated five kilometre from the International Border, when Pakistani troops resorted to high calibre mortar shelling on the civilian areas, leaving five dead and 34 injured.

Amidst the debris of what was once a three-storey house, snack-seller Jitendar Saha desperately searches for the body of his 20-year-old daughter.

With floods rendering the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway inoperational for 12 consecutive days on Monday, Valley residents are facing an acute shortage of essential commodities even as people in some areas of north and south Kashmir accused the administration of concentrating only on Srinagar city.