India lost 60 soldiers in LoC skirmishes, says ISPR.

ISLAMABAD -- India has lost 60 soldiers in retaliatory fire by Pakistani troops to its (Indian) ceasefire violations since the Pulwama stand-off in February, the military spokesman said in a post on his private Twitter account.

'Since 27 Feb, 19 Pak Army has killed over 60 Indian soldiers on LoC besides injuring many and destroying their bunkers. Artillery gun positions also damaged [and troops] forced to relocate,' Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.

He further said that two Indian Air Force jets were shot down by the Pakistan Air Force, and two helicopters had 'met fratricide under fear' and the Indian Navy was under deterrence.

The perpetually strained relations between the South Asian arch-rivals have been particularly tense since the start of this year and the two were involved in nerve-racking military standoff in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack in February. At the same time, there has also been a sharp spike in ceasefire violations by India.

This year, Indian troops committed 2,608 ceasefire violations, which resulted in martyrdom of 44 civilians. A number of troops have also been martyred.

Pakistani troops have always responded to the ceasefire violations by the Indian side. The military spokesman, in his tweet, was primarily referring to the damage inflicted on the Indian forces by Pakistani retaliatory fire.

The spokesman had on Friday in a tweet from his official account said that...