The Indian military said early Wednesday it had launched strikes against Pakistan in retaliation for last month’s militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Indian military said early Wednesday it had launched strikes against Pakistan in retaliation for last month’s militant attack in indian-administered kashmir, putting the nuclear-armed neighbors in direct conflict for the first time in six years.
India’s armed forces said nine sites “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed” were targeted. The statement said no Pakistani military facilities were hit and characterized the attack as “focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature.”
A view of Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. (Reuters)
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement that “Pakistan has every right to give a befitting reply to this act of war imposed by India, and a befitting reply is being given.”
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan’s chief military spokesman, told CNN that Pakistan had shot down two Indian aircraft. Soon after, Asif told Geo News that five Indian warplanes had been downed, including French-made Rafales. The claims could not be independently verified, and the Indian government had no immediate response.
Pakistan’s military reported 24 “impacts” across six locations: Ahmedpur East, Muridke and Sialkot in Pakistan, and Kotli, Bagh and Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Faryal Waheed, 45, was getting ready for bed about 12:30 a.m. in the eastern Pakistani city of Bahawalpur when she heard four loud blasts in quick succession, she said. Her gatekeeper told her he had seen “huge flashes of light in the sky.”
Waheed’s husband, a general surgeon at Bahawalpur’s biggest government hospital, was called in to work about 1 a.m., she said.
“The entire staff has been called in, doctors, nurses and ward boys,” she said. “I’m scared for us.”
Another Bahawalpur resident, 58-year-old Atif Saeed, ran outside when he heard the blasts, hoping to check on his nearby fertilizer warehouse. Police and soldiers were already in the streets, he said, and they urged him to return home.