Pakistan claims it has shot down five Indian fighter jets, condemns ‘act of war’ and vows to retaliate against India for airstrikes

India and Pakistan were teetering on the brink of war this morning after Delhi struck what it called ‘nine terrorist camps’ overnight, inciting stark threats from Islamabad.

Pakistan claimed to have shot down five Indian fighter jets as it condemned an ‘act of war’ from India, vowing to retaliate after missiles hit Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Both sides exchanged heavy artillery along their contested frontier into Wednesday. Pakistan reported 26 killed by Indian shelling, and India reported eight the other way.

But fears of a full-blown conflict between the two nuclear powers have escalated sharply in the last few hours.

India says it was attacking bases used by those it blames for an attack on the Indian-run side of Kashmir last month – the worst massacre of civilians in India since 2008.

It added that ‘no Pakistani civilian, economic or military targets have been hit’ in the missile attacks’ – an assertion sharply rebuked by Pakistani officials.

Fighter jets roared through the skies over the Himalayan territory this morning and explosions could be heard near the ‘Line of Control’ in a strike that lasted 25 minutes.

The FCDO warned Brits against all travel within six miles of the India-Pakistan border, 10 miles of the disputed Kashmir border and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The Indian government said in a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning that its armed forces had launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting what it called terrorist infrastructure in ‘Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir’.

India vowed to strike back after a militant group known as The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for a terror attack targeting civilians in India on April 22.

Hindu-majority India accuses Islamic Pakistan of funding and encouraging militancy in Kashmir, the Himalayan region both nations claim in full but rule in part.

Pakistan denies involvement.

But fears remain that the conflict could blow up into a full-scale war between the two neighbouring countries.

In an post on X overnight, the Indian army wrote that ‘Justice is Served’ and ‘Jai Hind!!’, which translates to ‘victory to India’.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said today that India had intelligence suggesting that ‘further attacks’ were ‘impending’ before they took action.

‘Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending,’ he said in a briefing on the operation today.

‘There was thus a compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt.’

India struck nine ‘terror bases’ with missiles late on Tuesday night, before both sides exchanged artillery fire.

India then accused Pakistan of ‘again violating’ a ceasefire agreement by ‘firing artillery in Bhimber Gali in Poonch- Rajauri area,’ on the Indian side.

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 missiles hit six locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, killing at least 26 people, including women and children, said Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif.

Sharif said the Indian jets also damaged infrastructure at a dam in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, calling it a violation of international norms.

Officials said another 38 people were injured by the strikes, and another five people were killed in Pakistan during exchanges of fire across the border later in the day.

One hit Subhan Mosque in Punjab’s Bahawalpur city, killing 13 people including a child, according to Zohaib Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital. The mosque is near a seminary that was once the central office of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group outlawed in 2002. Officials say the group has had no operational presence at the site since the ban.

Another missile hit a mosque in Muridke, damaging its structure. A sprawling building located nearby served as the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba until 2013, when Pakistan banned the group and arrested its founder.

In a briefing this morning Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri blamed last month’s attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on ‘Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists’, the BBC reports.

He said it was carried out by The Resistance Front, which he claimed was a front for Pakistani Indian-proscribed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He said Indian intelligence suggested further attacks were imminent. He said: ‘There was thus compulsion both to deter and to pre-empt [further attacks].’

Indian information ministry officials had planned several civil defence ‘mock drills’ to take place on Wednesday, ahead of its attacks earlier this morning.

‘The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked several states to conduct mock drills for effective civil defence’, Kanchan Gupta, a senior advisor from the information ministry, said in a statement earlier this week.

Gupta said this would involve rehearsing an ‘evacuation plan’ and the ‘training of civilians, students, etc., on the civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack’.

India has blamed Pakistan for backing the bloody attack, which Islamabad has denied.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated its travel advice for the region, warning against all travel within 10 kilometres of the India-Pakistan border, 10 miles of the Line of Control (the de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir between the two countries) and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

A statement said: ‘On the night of 6 May (UK Time), the Indian Ministry of Defence stated it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

‘In response, there are reports of Pakistani artillery fire across the Line of Control.

‘On the night of 6 May (UK Time) Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority indicated that it was closing Pakistan airspace for at least 48 hours. There are reports of flights being diverted. British nationals should contact their airline for up-to-date information.

‘We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. British nationals should stay up to date with our travel advice and follow the advice of local authorities.’

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.

 In Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions as the blast ripped through houses. He saw people running in panic. Authorities immediately cut power to the area.

Later, locals inspected the damage to their homes in the aftermath, rubble and other debris crunching underfoot.  People took refuge on the streets and in open areas, fearful of what might happen. ‘We were afraid the next missile might hit our house,’ said Mohammad Ashraf.

Pakistani officials confirmed that Pakistan had launched retaliatory strikes, without providing any details.

‘The Pakistan Air Force has shot down at least five Indian fighter jets in response to India’s recent cross-border aggression,’ Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo TV.

This is said to include Rafale fighter jets. These are prized assets of the Indian air force and have been involved in combat in in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.

The reports are yet to be confirmed by Indian officials, although two planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir. These jets are prized assets of the Indian air force and have been involved in combat in in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.

Reacting to news of Indian strikes, Information Minister Tarar Attaullah told the BBC: ‘They have crossed our limits’.

Separately, Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif told BBC Pakistani forces are on the ground, but did not specify where.

Multiple explosions were heard in the Pakistani Kashmir area close to of Muzaffarabad on Tuesday night, according to Reuters, with unverified footage on social media showing several loud explosions ringing in the city.

Resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions and that some people were wounded in the attack.

People were seen running in panic and authorities immediately cut the power, leading to a blackout.

Indian fighter jets could be heard flying over Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, according to unconfirmed reports.

Loud explosions were also reportedly heard in the town of Poonch, only about 10 miles from the dividing line, as New Delhi accused Pakistan of firing shells across the Line of Control.

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.

Commenting on the escalation from the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump told reporters: ‘We just heard about it as we were walking through the doors of the Oval…I guess people knew something was going to happen… They’ve been fighting for a long time… I just hope it ends very quickly.’

Meanwhile, a US state department spokesperson said that Washington was ‘closely monitoring developments’.

In recent days, Washington had urged the nuclear-armed neighbours to work with each other to de-escalate tensions and arrive at a ‘responsible solution’.

Indian politicians from different political parties heaped praise on the strikes.

‘Victory to Mother India,’ India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, wrote on X.

India’s main opposition Congress party called for national unity and said it was ‘extremely proud’ of the country’s army.

‘We applaud their resolute resolve and courage,’ Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge added.

Indian airline Spice Jet has said that due to the ongoing situation, some airports in parts of northern India have closed. Qatar Airways has temporarily suspended flights to Pakistan.

People in Pakistan have gathered overnight to protest against India’s strikes – with several heard chanting anti-Indian slogans and setting pictures of Indian PM Modi alight.

The attack from the Indian government comes after it vowed to retaliate following the ‘barbaric’ attack in which dozens of Indians were killed in Kashmir last month.

On April 22, gunmen burst out of forests at a popular tourist spot and opened fire on the crowds of visitors, killing 25 Indian residents and one person residing in Nepal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded furiously to the incident by pledging a ‘punishment bigger than they can imagine’ for the perpetrators.

Tensions have been escalating massively between the two historical rivals since the tragedy, with fears that conflict could break out between the two nuclear-armed nations who have been bitter rivals since 1947, when the nations were split from British-controlled India.

The partition of the two nations established Pakistan as a Muslim-majority nation, while India was created as a Hindu-majority nation.

Britain’s decision, passed by parliament in July 1947, also gave Kashmir, as well as Jammu, the opportunity to decide which nation to join.

Kashmir’s monarch, the maharaja, initially decided that his nation should go it alone, claiming that it had been under the yoke of empires for centuries and had been ignored and under-developed.

But ultimately, the then-ruler of Kashmir agreed his nation should join India, in exchange for the former colony providing material support against Pakistan, which later triggered the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48.

Years of conflict led to rebels in Kashmir waging an insurgency that began in 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.

New Delhi has regularly blamed Islamabad for backing gunmen in Kashmir, though Pakistan denies this.

The region is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.

Source. Daily Mail