India launched missiles into areas controlled by Pakistan on Wednesday morning, resulting in the deaths of at least eight people, including a child, an action that the leader of Pakistan has described as an act of war.
India says it targeted facilities utilised by militants associated with the recent massacre of tourists in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir.
According to a statement from the Indian army, Pakistani shelling resulted in the deaths of at least three civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Relations have soured significantly between the nuclear-capable neighbouring countries following last week’s attack in Pahalgam, killing 26 people, which India attributes to support from Pakistan.
Islamabad has refuted these claims. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the airstrikes that occurred on Wednesday, slamming them as cowardly assaults by a treacherous adversary, and asserted that his nation would respond accordingly.
“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.
Sharif has called for an emergency session of the National Security Committee scheduled for Wednesday morning to discuss the attacks and formulate a Pakistani response.
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.
The missiles struck six sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the eastern Punjab province, killing at least eight and injuring more than three dozen others, according to Pakistan’s army spokesperson.
One missile struck a mosque in Bahawalpur, Punjab, killing a child on impact. Other missiles targeted areas near Muridke in Punjab and Kotli in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Officials in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have announced a state of emergency in the hospitals of the region.
Classes in schools across Kashmir and Punjab were also cancelled in the wake of the attack. Seminaries in Kashmir were closed earlier in preparation for a potential assault by India.
The Indian Defence Ministry reported that at least nine locations were targeted where plans for terrorist attacks against India were allegedly devised.
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistan military facilities have been targeted,” the statement said, adding that “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”
ADVEReadNOWISEMENTThe army said the operation was named “Sindoor,” a Hindi word for the bright red vermillion powder worn by married Hindu women on their forehead and hair, in a reference to the women who saw their husbands killed in front of them.
Pakistan retaliates
The Indian Army reported that three civilians lost their lives due to indiscriminate firing by Pakistani forces, which included both gunfire and artillery shelling across the Line of Control, the unofficial border separating the disputed region of Kashmir between the two nations, as well as their international border.
The army added that it was taking measures in a proportionate manner. Following India’s military actions, an aircraft crashed into a school building on the outskirts of the primary city in Indian-administered Kashmir, as confirmed by local police and residents.
State-run Pakistan Television quoting senior security officials reported that the nation’s air force has downed five Indian aircraft in response, although further details were not disclosed.
ADVEReadNOWISEMENTIndia has yet to respond to Pakistan’s assertion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad asserted that Indian forces initiated the attacks from within their own airspace.
Additional sources • AP