India and Pakistan exchanged strong artillery along their disputed border on Wednesday, after New Delhi launched missile strikes on his arc rival in a major climbing between nuclear arms neighbors.
Dead have been reported on both sides. Pakistan said Indian strikes had killed at least eight people, and India said Pakistani artillery fires killed three civilians along the disputed cashmere border.
New Delhi announced that it had made “precision strikes in terrorist camps” on nine cashmere sites administered by Pakistan, a few days after blamed Islamabad for a murderous attack on the side led by the Indians of the contested region.
The Indian army said that “justice is done”, New Delhi adding that its actions “have been concentrated, measured and non -ecological”.
The Pakistani Minister of Defense, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, told AFP: “Reprisals have already started. We will not take long to settle the scoring.”
He accused Prime Minister Narendra amended to have launched strikes to “consolidate” his domestic popularity.
Islamabad reported eight civilians – including a child – was killed in the strikes, which struck at least six locations.
Earlier, the Pakistani army said that three locations at the cashmere administered by Pakistan had been struck with two – Bahawalpur and Muridke – in the most populous province of the country’s Punjab.
AFP correspondents in cashmere and punjab led by Pakistanis have heard several noisy explosions.
Shortly after, India accused Pakistan of “blind” shooting and artillery bombing through the control line (LOC), the de facto border in cashmere, with flame gusts like shells landed by AFP journalists.
“Three innocent civilians lost their lives,” said the Indian army, adding that it was “proportional”.
India had largely planned to respond militarily to the attack on April 22 against the Kashmir tourists administered by the Indians by armed men, he said that the group based in Pakistan Lashkar-E-Taiba, an unintegrated terrorist organization.
This assault left 26 dead, mainly Hindu men, in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam. No group has claimed responsibility.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for supporting the attack, triggering a series of stormy threats and diplomatic tat-tat measures.
Pakistan rejects the accusations, and the two parties have exchanged nocturnal shots since April 24 along the loc, according to the Indian army. Pakistan also said that it had passed two missile tests.
‘Maximum referral’
Wednesday strikes are a dangerous increase in friction between the neighbors of South Asia, who have fought several wars since they were sculpted from the subcontinent at the end of British domination in 1947.
For days, the international community has exerted pressure on Pakistan and India to step back after the edge of the war.
“The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” said the spokesman for the UN chief Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, in a statement, adding that Guterres called for “maximum restraint”.
Asked about strikes, US President Donald Trump told journalists in Washington that he hoped that the fights “end very quickly”.
The India Embassy in Washington said that New Delhi’s national security advisor Ajit Doval informed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after strikes.
Rubio also spoke with the Pakistani advisor to national security, Lieutenant-General Asim Malik, AFP a Pakistani military official told AFP.
The spokesman for the National Council for American Security, Brian Hughes, confirmed that Rubio had spoken with his counterparts from India and Pakistan.
“I closely monitor the situation between India and Pakistan,” said Rubio on X, adding that it “will continue to hire Indian and Pakistani leaders to a peaceful resolution”.
Explosions near loc
The army of India said that it had “demonstrated a considerable reservoir in the selection of targets and the method of execution”, adding that “no Pakistani military installation has been targeted”.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, calling the Indian attack as “unlike” and “cowardly”, said that “the deed of odious aggression will not remain unpunished”.
You could hear Indian hunting planes flying over Srinagar, the capital of cashmere administered by the Indians.
Strong explosions could also be heard in the city of Poonch, only about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the loc.
The cashmere rebels administered by the Indians have led an insurrection since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
India regularly blames its neighbor for having supported armed groups fighting his forces at the cashmere, an accusation that Islamabad denies.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, is expected in New Delhi on Wednesday, two days after a visit to Islamabad, while Tehran seeks to make a mediation.
India was also due to organize several civil defense exercises on Wednesday, while Pakistan Punjab schools were closed, local government officials said.
The strikes occurred only a few hours after Modi said that the water flowing through the borders of India is arrested. Pakistan had warned that the falsification of the rivers flowing from India in its territory would be an “act of war”.
Modi did not mention Islamabad specifically, but his speech came after New Delhi suspended his part of the 65 -year -old Industry Water Treaty, which governs essential water in Pakistan for consumption and agriculture.
“India water was coming out, now it flowed for India,” Modi said in a speech in New Delhi.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
