ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI/UNITED NATIONS - Twenty-six people, including women and children, were killed and 46 others injured when India attacked civilian settlements in six areas of Pakistan on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, said a Pakistani official.
Meanwhile, India said at least nine civilians were killed and over 40 others wounded Wednesday in clashes between Indian and Pakistani troops across the Line of Control in Kashmir.
A state of emergency was declared in hospitals across the affected areas, while Pakistan had suspended its airspace for 48 hours and closed education institutions in Punjab.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) – the Pakistani army's media wing, told media in a briefing that India attacked houses and mosques, targeting civilians in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and the country's east Punjab province.
He confirmed that the Pakistan Air Force shot down five Indian fighter jets, including three Rafales, one MiG-29, one Sukhoi, and a combat drone whose debris fell inside Indian territory. "None of the Pakistani aircraft went inside Indian airspace," he added.
The ISPR chief said several posts and a brigade headquarters of the Indian army were targeted in Pakistan's retaliatory action.
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Pakistani Air Force launched the attack only after India carried out "the unprovoked, uncalled-for aggression against the territorial integrity, and the innocent people of Pakistan by firing at them through standoff weapons".
In this incident, India targeted and damaged the Nausari dam structure of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project in Muzaffarabad district, Chaudhry said, adding "targeting hydro infrastructure is an unacceptable and dangerous escalation".
The ISPR chief said that at the time of the attack, scores of national and international flights were in Pakistan's airspace and thousands of civilian passengers' lives were put in grave danger.
Chaudhry said that Pakistan will retaliate in response to the attack which happened in "the darkness of the night", adding that last night's actions from Pakistan were only a retaliation in self-defense.
"Pakistan reserves the right and will respond to this aggression at a time, place, and means of our own choice," he noted.
In India, officials said at least nine civilians were killed and over 40 others wounded in clashes between Indian and Pakistani troops.
Indian army officials said they were effectively responding to the shelling and firing from the Pakistani side.
According to officials, the civilian deaths were reported from the worst-hit Poonch district, 185 km southwest of Srinagar city in the Indian-controlled Kashmir. At least 28 people were also wounded in the firing.
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Reports said 10 people, including five minor children, were also wounded in the shelling in Uri sector of Baramulla district, while three others wounded in Rajouri district.
Several houses were also damaged due to the shelling in the affected frontier districts, including Kupwara.
Strong condemnation
Pakistani President Asif Zardari condemned the Indian strikes targeting civilian populations across the border and said that Pakistan would give a strong and befitting response to Indian aggression.
"Indian provocations will be met with full force and with an unwavering commitment to protect Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said the president, adding that the entire Pakistani nation stands united behind its brave armed forces, who are fully prepared and capable of defending the motherland.
The country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the strikes, saying, "Pakistan has every right to respond to this act of war imposed by India and a befitting reply is being given".
"The entire nation stands with our armed forces. The morale and spirit of the Pakistani people are high," the prime minister added, vowing that the enemy would never succeed in its nefarious designs.
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Pakistan's foreign office strongly condemned the strikes, calling it an unprovoked and blatant act of aggression.
The foreign office said that the Indian Air Force targeted civilian areas in Pakistan using standoff weapons while remaining within Indian airspace, resulting in the deaths of civilians, including women and children.
It denounced the strikes as a "flagrant violation of the UN charter, international law, and established norms of inter-state relations", and warned that the Indian action posed a serious threat to regional stability and commercial air traffic.
"India's reckless action has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict," said the foreign office, emphasizing that Pakistan reserves the right to respond "at a time and place of its choosing".
The Indian government earlier confirmed carrying out air strikes on nine identified "terrorist-training camps" located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally monitored the air strikes, according to Indian media reports.
The air strikes were carried out under "Operation Sindoor", which was dedicated to the women whose husbands were killed in the Pahalgam area of Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, the reports said.
A total of 26 people were killed in the attack, which was described as the worst attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the past several decades. The incident led to escalating tensions between the two South Asian nations.
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India's Ministry of Defense said in a press release that the Indian armed forces launched "Operation Sindoor", hitting "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir from where "terror attacks" against India had been planned and directed.
"Altogether nine sites have been targeted. Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India had demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution," said the statement.
It added these steps came in the wake of the Pahalgam attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, in which 25 Indian and one Nepali citizen were killed.
One of the biggest private airlines in India, IndiGo posted on X that its flights to and from certain airports located near the international border with Pakistan had been impacted.
Meanwhile, local newspaper The Hindu quoted government sources as saying that at least three Indian jets crashed on Wednesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
According to the newspaper, the jets have crashed in Akhnoor, Ramban and Pampore areas of the region.
Officials are yet to reveal the exact circumstances behind these crashes, the newspaper further said.
UN calls for restraint
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for military restraint from India and Pakistan.
In a note to correspondents issued by his spokesperson, the UN chief expressed deep concern over Indian military operations across the Line of Control and the international border with Pakistan.
"The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan," the note said.
On Monday, the secretary-general warned that the tensions between the two South Asian neighbors had reached "their highest in years".
He offered his good offices to both governments to help defuse tensions and promote diplomacy, stressing that "a military solution is no solution".
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Guterres once again strongly condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. "Targeting civilians is unacceptable -- and those responsible must be brought to justice through credible and lawful means," he said.
Guterres on Monday also held phone talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif to discuss the prevailing security situation in South Asia, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.
The prime minister expressed his concern about India's "provocative rhetoric and war mongering", and reiterated Pakistan's determination to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Guterres briefed Sharif on his efforts for peace and stability in the region, expressing his commitment to remain engaged with all interlocutors on the issue.
This was the second phone conversation between the two within a week.
