The killing of two Indian soldiers — one of whom was beheaded — by Pakistan troops was a ‘gruesome and an unpardonable act’, Army Chief General Bikram Singh said on Monday while asserting that his forces ‘reserve the right to retaliate’.

He also termed Pakistan’s aggression along the LoC (Line of Control) in Jammu and Kashmir ‘pre-planned and pre-meditated’. “What they (Pakistan) have done is against the ethics of soldiering. My heart goes out to the families of soldiers who were killed and whose bodies were mutilated. It’s a gruesome and unpardonable act. Beheading of soldiers is not acceptable,” said Bikram Singh.