New Delhi: In a major counter-attack, the Indian Army early on Sunday morning killed at least six Pakistani soldiers and destroyed four terror launchpads  along the Line of Control opposite the Tangdhar sector with heavy targeted artillery shelling.

This was in retaliation for the Pakistan Army’s truce violation on Saturday night to push terrorists into India, in which two Indian soldiers and one civilian had died in the Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district in the Kashmir Valley.

“According to reports which we have received, there has been heavy damage to the Pakistan Army and the terrorists who were in these terror camps. At least six to 10 Pakistani soldiers died and a similar number of terrorists were also killed,” said Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat. He said unconfirmed reports suggest that the terrorists’ casualties were much higher.

“There is a kind of radio silence on the other side and we are not even able to pick up any mobile communications from across,” said the Army Chief. He said at least three terrorist camps were completely destroyed and a fourth terrorist camp was also heavily damaged.

“It was decided that we target terror camps across. We had the coordinates of these camps,” said Gen. Rawat. He said in the past one month, there were repeated attempts from different sectors to infiltrate terrorists. “We have been able to destroy 4-5 terrorist camps. Each such camp has around 10-15 terrorists in them. It is difficult right now to give exact figures of how many terrorists have been killed,” said a senior Army officer. He said the number of Pakistani soldiers who have been injured is much higher. However, Pakistan Army spokespe-rson Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor in a statement said only one Pakistani soldier was killed and two soldiers were injured in the Indian Army firing.

The Indian Army, in a statement, said its artillery hit terror launchpads, Pakistan Army posts and Pakistani gun positions along LoC in the Tangdhar sector.

One civilian, Mohd Sadeeq, 55, was killed in Gundi Shath village in Tangdhar in the Pakistan Army firing. Also, three civilians from the same village were injured — Mohd Maqbool, 70, Mohd Shafi, 50, and Yusuf Hamid, 22. “Last night Pak Army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation to assist infiltration by terrorists into Indian territories,” said a senior Army officer. He said that the Indian Army retains the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing in case the Pakistan Army continues to assist terror activities across the Indian border.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Gen. Rawat over the situation.