India launched attacks on Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, while Pakistan claimed it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in what marks the most intense confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in over two decades.
According to Indian authorities, the strikes targeted nine sites identified as "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan, some of them supposedly connected to a deadly attack by militants on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month that left 26 people dead.
Islamabad said six Pakistani locations had been targeted – none of them militant camps, reports Reuters.
US President Donald Trump called the situation “a shame” and expressed hope that it “ends quickly.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had urged both countries to exercise maximum military restraint, a spokesperson said.
After having initially reported eight deaths, the Pakistani military later in the day said the death toll from Indian missile strikes in Pakistan and firing along the border had risen to 26, reports AFP.
"Until now, 26 innocent civilians have been martyred in attacks," said military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.
Meanwhile, at least eight Indians had been killed and 29 others wounded in the town of Poonch in Kashmir, close to the de facto border with Pakistan, a local Indian government official said.
Poonch's local revenue officer Azhar Majid told AFP from the town's hospital that there had been "29 injured and eight deaths,” as Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged heavy artillery fire.
Analysts warned that the risk of escalation was now higher than in recent years due to the intensity of India’s operation, which New Delhi dubbed “Operation Sindoor.” The word “Sindoor” refers to the red powder Hindu women traditionally apply to the forehead or parting of the hair as a symbol of marriage.
An Indian defence source informed Reuters that Indian forces had specifically targeted the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In a statement, the Indian defence ministry claimed India had demonstrated “considerable restraint” in the selection of targets and the method of execution.
While Pakistan stated that Indian missiles had struck three sites and claimed to have shot down five Indian aircraft, this claim had not been confirmed by Indian authorities.
Nevertheless, four local government sources in Indian Kashmir told Reuters that three Indian fighter jets had crashed overnight in different parts of the Himalayan region.
All three pilots had been hospitalized, the sources said. Indian defence ministry officials were not immediately available to verify this.
Photos circulating on local media showed what appeared to be a large, damaged, silver-colored metallic cylinder lying in a field at one of the reported crash sites.
"All of these engagements have been done as a defensive measure," Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said.
“Pakistan remains a very responsible state. However, we will take all the steps necessary for defending the honour, integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, at all costs."
Calling the Indian strikes a “blatant act of war,” Islamabad said it had informed the UN Security Council that Pakistan reserved the right to respond appropriately to Indian aggression.
Reports from police and witnesses confirm that the two South Asian nations also exchanged heavy gunfire and intense shelling across much of the Line of Control, the de facto border in the contested Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Since gaining independence in 1947, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan have fought three wars – two of them over Kashmir, a territory both claim in full but control in part.
Following a 2003 ceasefire agreement, which both countries reaffirmed in 2021, cross-border strikes had been rare, particularly Indian attacks beyond Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the damage from India’s strikes was visible by morning.
Security personnel had cordoned off a small mosque in a hillside residential area that had been hit; its minaret had collapsed.
Authorities ordered all schools to close in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the national capital Islamabad, large parts of Indian-administered Kashmir and the densely populated Pakistani province of Punjab, reports Reuters.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that Pakistan was taking action in response to the Indian strikes but did not elaborate further.
Punjab province had declared an emergency, its chief minister said, with hospitals and emergency services on high alert.
A Pakistani military spokesperson told Geo News that two mosques were among the sites struck by Indian missiles.
Pakistan’s defence minister also told the broadcaster that all of the targeted locations were civilian and not militant camps.
He dismissed India’s claim that it had hit “terrorist camps” as false.
Following the attacks, the Indian army posted on X: “Justice is served.”