In response to "unprovoked Indian firing from across the Line of Control (LoC) that killed five civilians" on Saturday, Pakistan Army on Sunday destroyed two Indian army posts and killed four soldiers, its media wing said.

"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, four Indian soldiers killed," read a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of Pakistan Army.

The Army also reiterated its resolve to "protect [the] civil population against unprovoked Indian aggression" at any cost.

The ISPR also released a video purporting to show the two Indian army posts being destroyed.

On Saturday, July 8, the first death anniversary of famed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Indian troops had resorted to heavy shelling in different areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir from across the LoC. At least five civilians, four of them women, were reported killed and 10 others injured in the shelling incidents, the highest death toll in a single day in many months of cross-border violence.

According to officials at the State Disaster Management Authority, the latest casualties pushed the number of those killed in AJK in Indian shelling during the ongoing year to 18 and those injured to over 105.

Subsequently, the Foreign Office (FO) had summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to lodge a protest against the "unprovoked" ceasefire violation.

The FO's Director General (South Asia and Saarc), Dr Muhammad Faisal, lodged the protest.

"The deliberate targeting of civilians is deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," Faisal said.

He urged India to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement, to investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, to instruct Indian forces to respect the agreement, and to maintain peace on LoC.

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