India announces attacking nine sites in Pakistan and the Pakistan-administered Kashmir, targeting “terrorist infrastructures,” while Islamabad reports scores of casualties.
The Indian ministry of defense announced the strikes in a statement on Wednesday, saying they had hit the targets “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” describing the attacks as “Operation Sindoor.”
The statement said the ministry would release detailed briefing of the operation later in the day.
Pakistani broadcaster Geo cited the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Public Relations as announcing that eight Pakistanis had been killed in the attacks, including a 16-year-old girl, and 35 others had been wounded.
A Pakistani military spokesman told the broadcaster that sites struck by India included two mosques.
Both sides’ armies, meanwhile, reportedly exchanged heavy shelling and gunfire across the border between the Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Indian-administered Kashmir in at least three places.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad was mounting a response, but did not provide details.
Sharif condemned India’s attacks, and vowed that Islamabad would respond forcefully.
“The enemy has once again shown its deceitful nature,” he said, according to Geo.
Pakistan announces downing ‘five Indian jets’
Pakistan had, on several occasions, announced recently that it had “credible information” pointing to pending Indian attacks, and vowed to retaliate accordingly.
Later on Wednesday, Geo reported that Pakistan’s armed forces had shot down “five Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.”
The troops also brought down a drone and destroyed brigade headquarters after India carried out strikes in the cities of Punjab and Azad Kashmir, it added.
India: Attacks were ‘surgical but non-escalatory’
The Indian ministry described the operations as “precision strikes at terrorist camps” and “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
It, however, said, “Our actions have been focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature.”
“No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”
Pakistan: Targets were ‘civilian’
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, however, told Geo that all sites targeted by India were “civilian” and not terrorist camps.
He said India had fired missiles from its own airspace and the latter’s assertion of targeting “camps of terrorists is false.”
The developments follow the terror attack in the town of Pahalgam in the Indian-administered Kashmir that claimed the lives of at least 26 tourists on April 22, 2025.
The Indian defense ministry statement asserted that Operation Sindoor had come in the wake of the “barbaric” Pahalgam terrorist attack, identifying the fatalities as 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen.
“We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable.”
Pakistan has rejected any role. Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had most recently rejected, what he called, India’s narrative regarding ongoing issues, and said that New Delhi was facing “diplomatic embarrassment [concerning the matter] on the global stage.”
Conflict over water
After the terrorist indecent, both countries began taking tit-for-tat measures.
India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, a water-sharing agreement mediated by the World Bank and signed in 1960, and closed the Wagah-Attari border crossing.
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said water from the country that once flowed across borders would be stopped.
“India’s water used to go outside, now it will flow for India,” he said in a speech in New Delhi, adding, “India’s water will be stopped for India’s interests, and it will be utilized for India.”
Pakistan has described India’s measures as tampering with its rivers that would be considered “an act of war.”
For its part, Islamabad has suspended visas issued to Indian nationals, closed its airspace to Indian airlines, and test-fired several long-range missiles.
Source: Press TV
