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India and Pakistan have moved into an open military conflict after New Delhi launched airstrikes on neighbors in last month’s deadly militant attacks on Indian-controlled Kashmir tourists.
Pakistan claimed it had fired down five Indian military jets and combat drones in response to a strike that appears to be India’s most widespread military attack in decades.
India said it had carried out a “precision strike” on “terrorist infrastructure” in parts of the conflict zones in Kashmir, managed by Pakistan and Pakistan.
The Indian military said nine “terrorist camps” had been targeted.
Air Force Commander Vyomika Singh said India acted “clinical efficiency” and used “to carefully select niche technical weapons with subselection” in surgery that took less than 30 minutes.
Pakistani military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 26 reporters were killed and 46 were injured. He said 16 people were killed in Punjab by Indian strikes.
The deaths include two three-year-old girls and seven women, he added. Chaudhry said India targeted the mosques in at least three different locations and killed people in the worship house.
The Financial Times were unable to independently verify the claims of both countries.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif called the Indian strike an “act of war” and on X social media platforms his country “has “all rights to respond powerfully and has actually been given a strong response.”
Pakistani forces and diplomats said they shot down five Indian fighter jets during Wednesday’s skirmish, including three French-made Rafales and two Russian-made planes.
They alleged that the aircraft was trying to fire fire in Pakistan from Indian airspace and said they responded by shooting down parts of India’s Kashmir.
India did not immediately confirm Pakistan’s claim.
A conflict between two neighbors claiming Kashmir came to a surge after killing 25 Indians and Nepali citizens in Pahargam, an Indian-Kashmir tourist spot on April 22nd.
India said on Wednesday it was imminent as more attacks were on the verge of attacking Pakistan and bringing the planners of the Pahargam attack to trial. “There was compulsion in both blocking and preemptive,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Mithri said at the briefing.
Kashmir police say they are looking for three men, including two Pakistani citizens, in connection with the attack, linking them to Rashkar Aetaiba, the group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Pakistan denied its involvement in the attack on Kashmir and called for an independent investigation.
In response to the attacks of Pahargam, India halted the treaty that shared water with Pakistan in the Indus River Basin, and the two countries significantly downgraded their ties, closed airspace and ports, halted trade and closed land borders.
India called the attack on Pakistan on Wednesday “Operation Sindoor.” This is a reference to a red mark Hindu woman dressed in hair parting, a traditional Hindu symbol of marriage.
Photos of honeymoon couples attacked in Pahargam were widely shared in India after the attack, with their wife kneeling on their husband’s body.
Pakistani leader Sharif called for the National Security Committee meeting on Wednesday morning.
Pakistan has closed space and closed schools in parts of Kashmir, which it manages, in the capital, Islamabad, and across Punjab.
“There will be some kind of retaliation by Pakistan in the coming hours,” said C Raja Mohan, an international affairs analyst in India. “In the meantime, diplomacy has been taking place behind the scenes and the US is involved at a certain level.”
Washington, which has close ties with both India and Pakistan, is seeking restraint. US President Donald Trump called the strike a “shame” and said he hopes the conflict will “end soon.”
China, which borders both countries, said it “remorrowed” India’s military operations and urged both sides to exercise restraint.
The strike against India’s Pakistani target has prompted several airlines to rerout and cancel flights destined to land.
