Seven people, including a junior commissioned officer, a BSF trooper and a senior government officer, were killed in Pakistani artillery firing in Jammu and Kashmir, which was rattled by multiple explosions involving enemy drones that hit key airbases in Srinagar, Awantipora and Udhampur.

The killings demonstrated how artillery, a traditional weapon, exacted a far bigger toll during the four days of intense hostilities compared with modern weapons such as drones.

The firing on borders and explosions deep inside were most intense on Saturday and suggested a further escalation until India and Pakistan abruptly reached an understanding.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the toll in the last four days has gone up to 25.

Security sources said the army’s air defence system neutralised most of the drones and loitering munitions.

Subedar Major Pawan Kumar, a resident of Himachal Pradesh, laid down his life when a Pakistani artillery shell exploded near his post in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch.

BSF sub-inspector Mohammed Imteyaz was killed in firing along the border in Jammu’s RS Pura sector, police said.

The police said Raj Kumar Thapa, the additional district development commissioner, and his two staff members were seriously injured when an artillery shell hit his official residence in Rajouri town. They were rushed to the Government Medical College, where Thapa succumbed to his injuries.

The four other victims were two-year-old Aisha Noor, 35-year-old Mohammad Shohib from Bihar, 62-year-old Rashida Bi of Kangra Gultha and Ashok Kumar of Bidipur Jatta village in RS Pura sector.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah, who visited Thapa’s Jammu home to offer condolences, said he was devastated by the loss of a dedicated officer. “Just yesterday, he was accompanying the deputy chief minister around Rajouri district and attended the online meeting I chaired. Today, the residence of the officer was hit by Pakistani shelling as they targeted Rajouri town. I’ve no words to express my shock at this terrible loss of life,” he said.

Thapa, 54, was a 1989-batch MBBS graduate from Government Medical College in Jammu who qualified the Kashmir Administrative Service in 2001. Omar announced an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh for the family members of each of the deceased.

As artillery kept pounding the borders, explosions in and around key airbases in Srinagar, Pulwama and Udhampur triggered panic. Sources said there were multiple impacts on these airbases but offered no details.

At a defence briefing in Delhi, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh acknowledged the hits. They said there was limited damage to equipment and personnel at Udhampur, but civilian infrastructure, including a medical centre and a school, was targeted at airbases in Srinagar, Awantipora (in Pulwama) and Udhampur.