New Delhi [India], May 8 (ANI): Thirteen civilians lost their lives in Poonch while a total of 59 people, 44 of them in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir have sustained injuries due to ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC), the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.

The External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division of the MEA gave the information.

The intense shelling by the Pakistani army along the LoC came in retaliation for the May 7 'Operation Sindoor' in which India's armed forces targeted a total of nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked small arms ceasefire since the night of April 25-26.

After Operation Sindoor, the Pakistan Army continued its series of ceasefire violations by targeting civilian areas in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. Officials said the shelling caused panic among villagers and damaged several houses. Shelling by Pakistan damaged civilian infrastructure, shattered window panes and cracked walls.

Residents in border villages in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri returned to their homes on Thursday morning after they were forced to flee their homes in panic, seeking safety in the wake of the intense shelling by Pakistan.

According to the villagers who returned today, the shelling has caused significant damage to residential properties, with people fleeing the areas along with their whole families as well as livestock.

'We left our homes in fear, and so we fled in the night during the shelling. There were two buildings which got damaged. Two shells also fell on my house. So we fled from here. The whole village was deserted, and some people also took their livestock with them,' said Sailesh Kumar, a resident of a border village in Rajouri.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army have proportionately responded to the unprovoked small-arms and artillery guns firing by the Pakistani Army across the Line of Control (LoC) during the night of May 7 and May 8, as the Pakistan Army resorted to firing in areas opposite in Kupwara and Baramulla districts and Uri and Akhnoor sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian Army is closely monitoring ceasefire violations by Pakistan after the Indian forces conducted the precise strikes on nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir under Operation Sindoor on Wednesday.

The strikes were aimed at avenging the Pahalgam attack victims and eliminating key Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders and camps involved in planning attacks on Indian soil. (ANI)