Seven persons, including a senior Jammu and Kashmir government official and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the army, were killed and over 20 others injured as intense mortar shelling and drone strikes by Pakistan hit the Jammu region on Saturday, officials said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the shelling affected residential localities here and also announced R10 lakh ex-gratia relief for the next of the kin of each killed in the recent cross-border shelling, while police issued helpline numbers and asked people to stay away from debris of fallen UAVs. Residents of Jammu city and other major towns of the division woke up to air raid sirens and deafening sounds of explosions around 5 am, while the border residents spent a sleepless night in the wake of intense shelling from across the border. According to defence officials, Pakistan's blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continued along the western borders on Saturday.