Sawt Falasteen - Indian town mourns young twins killed in Pakistani shelling

Zian Khan and his sister Urwa Fatima were hit by an artillery shell on Wednesday as their parents tried to leave the town that has come under repeated attack.

The latest clashes are the worst in decades between the nuclear-armed foes and have killed more than 60 civilians on both sides.

The twins' mother, Urusa Khan, 30, survived the attack with minor wounds.

Their 46-year-old father, Rameez Khan, is in hospital with life-threatening injuries, unaware that his children are no longer alive.

"None of us have ever experienced such a direct targeting of our town or civilian areas in our lifetime," Sarfaraz Mir, 40, a cousin of the dead twins told AFP.

"No one thought it could happen, but it feels like civilians and the town are being specifically targeted," he said. "People are really afraid now."

At least 12 people have been killed and 49 others injured since shelling intensified in Poonch, about 145 miles (230 kilometres) from Jammu, the second largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Only a few thousand residents remain in Poonch, which was home to around 60,000 people.

Most of the residents fled on Wednesday evening in cars, buses and even on foot, hours after the unprecedented overnight shelling started.

-‘We regret that decision’-

As the twins' family hurriedly tried to leave their home on Wednesday, their mother briefly went back inside to pick up something she had forgotten.

"At that very instant a shell exploded in the narrow lane outside their residence," Mir said.

Urwa died instantly and her brother in hospital later.

"The people only got to the father later... and (he) is still in a critical condition," he added.

The family had moved from a village to Poonch to be near the dead twins' school.

"We regret that decision,” Fiaz Diwan, 30, a family friend and former neighbour in the village of Chaktroo told AFP.

"The news of their death was shocking, unbelievable," Diwan said. "They may still have been alive if not for the parents' desire to give them the best education and future."

-'Nerves of steel'-

The twins' death has united disparate communities grappling with loss and destruction in Poonch.

Mir said that many had suffered including "a child whose head was cut off, a victim from the local Sikh minority -- but twins are hard to forget".

Poonch "is a bouquet of communities -- Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims -- happily living together, and it feels like an attempt to target that," he said.

A Sikh and a Hindu temple complex were damaged in the shelling.

Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Friday raised the twins' deaths and accused Pakistan of "targeting and shelling places of worship with a particular design".

"This includes Gurdwaras (Sikh temples), these convents, and (Hindu) temples. This is a new low, even for Pakistan."

The latest clashes follow an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.

Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe

Pankaj Sharma, 48, a Hindu from Poonch, bemoaned the twins' death, saying their "entire lives (were) still ahead of them".

Right after the twins' funeral, their mother went to hospital to be with her gravely wounded husband.

"God has really given her nerves of steel to go through all of this with calm and dignity," Mir said.

X.Habash--SF-PST