India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani ‘terror camps’ in Kashmir, days after it blamed Islamabad for a deadly attack on the Indian side of the contested region.
The long-simmering conflict between the neighboring nuclear powers intensified dramatically overnight.
Fighter jets roared through the skies over the Himalayan territory early Wednesday and the sounds of explosions could be heard near the so-called Line of Control.
‘A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed’, the Indian government said in a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The Indian army added that no Pakistani military facilities had been targeted, noting that India had ‘demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution’.
Seven people have died, including at least two children, a spokesperson for the Pakistani military told BBC.
In the hours that followed, the Indian army said that Pakistan had ‘fired artillery’ across the dividing lines in Kashmir in retaliation, accusing it of violating a 2020 ceasefire agreement.
‘Pakistan again violates the Ceasefire Agreement by firing Artillery in Bhimber Gali in Poonch- Rajauri area,’ on the Indian side, Indian army said in a post on X.
The army ‘is responding appropriately in a calibrated manner,’ it added.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s airstrikes and said the ‘deceitful enemy has carried out cowardly attacks at five locations in Pakistan’ and that his country would retaliate.
‘Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given,’ Sharif said.
The strikes came amid soaring tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, which killed 26.
India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied.
The missiles struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province early Wednesday.
CNN reported that five locations were struck. Three of those locations – Kotli, Muzaffarabad and Bagh are in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, one official said.
Pakistani officials confirmed that Pakistan had launched retaliatory strikes, without providing any details.
The Pakistani army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, told ARY News that the missiles were launched from within Indian territory and that no Indian aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace.
‘This was a cowardly attack targeting innocent civilians under the cover of darkness,’ Sharif told the broadcaster.’
The Indian army has also posted to X tonight writing that ‘Justice is Served’ and ‘Jai Hind!!’, which translates to ‘victory to India’.
Multiple explosions were heard in the Pakistani Kashmir area close to the city of Muzaffarabad on Tuesday night, according to Reuters.
Unverified footage on social media shows several loud explosions ringing in the city of Muzaffarabad.
Witnesses have reported that the city’s power is currently blacked out.
Indian fighter jets could be heard flying over Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, according to unconfirmed reports.
Loud explosions were heard in the town of Poonch, only about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the dividing line, as New Delhi accused Pakistan of firing shells across the Line of Control.
Indian fighter jets could be heard flying over Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, while explosions were heard in Wuyan, a few miles from Srinagar’s military headquarters.
Two Indian jets have been shot down by Pakistan’s air force, state-run Pakistan Television has said, quoting officials.
Sharif has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee for Wednesday morning.
Stephane Dujarric, the United Nations spokesperson, said in a statement late Tuesday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was ‘very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border’ and called for maximum military restraint from both countries.
‘The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,’ the statement read.
