Four Indian soldiers killed, two posts destroyed along LoC, ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Responding to unprovoked intense shelling by Indian troops from across the Line of Control (LoC) that killed five civilians in Jammu and Kashmir region on July 08, Pakistani forces claimed to have destroyed two of Indian army posts and killed four Indian soldiers.

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army, “On the death anniversary of Kashmiri hero Burhan Wani on July 8, when Kashmiris all over the world were protesting against Indian atrocities, Indian army initiated unprovoked fire from across the LoC in Rawalakot sector, targeting civil population in village Tetrinote, Manwa, Satwal, and Chaffar with mortars and rockets fire, resulting in the death of five innocent citizens, including four women and an old man while injuring five others including three young girls.”

“Pakistan army befittingly responded on July 9 causing substantial losses to men and material. Two Indian army posts firing on innocent civilians have been destroyed and four Indian soldiers killed,” said the press release of the ISPR.

“Pakistan army shall protect civil population against unprovoked Indian aggression at all cost,” it added.

In utter failure to cap remembrance of Wani’s shahadat, Indian forces targeted innocent civ along LOC. Indian guns silenced effectively! pic.twitter.com/qOoAtVvCIg

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) July 9, 2017

Pak Army stands by innocent civ population against unprovoked Indian CFVs & would cont to respond befittingly to this naked aggression. pic.twitter.com/E9anbYUlxa

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) July 9, 2017

A day earlier, Pakistan has summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to lodge protest over killing of five civilians in unprovoked Indian fire from across the dividing line.

“The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws,” Foreign Office’s Director General Dr Muhammad Faisal told the Indian diplomat.

He urged the Indian side to respect its 2003 ceasefire agreement; investigate the current one and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit, and maintain peace on the LoC.

Ceasefire violations have become a norm along the heavily militarized Line of Control, which divided the Himalayan region between Indian and Pakistani-controlled zones. As a result, civilian causalities occur frequently.