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SEOUL, South Korea — Pakistan said Wednesday it will avenge those killed by India’s missile strikes that New Delhi called retaliation for last month’s massacre of Indian tourists in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan called the strikes an act of war and claimed it downed several Indian fighter jets.
The Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its armed forces struck “terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”
The missiles killed 31 people, including women and children, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country’s Punjab province, Pakistan’s military said. The strikes targeted at least nine sites “where terrorist attacks against India have been planned,” India’s Defense Ministry said. Two mosques were hit.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country would avenge the dead but gave no details, fanning fears of all-out conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals. Already, it’s their worst confrontation since 2019, when they came close to war.
Indian media reported that the operation lasted 25 minutes.
After the strikes, there was a heavy exchange of fire that officials in each country said left more people dead. Three planes fell onto villages in India-controlled territory, Indian police and residents said, though it was not immediately clear whether they were downed by Pakistan.
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Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV called the airstrikes an “unprovoked, cowardly and unlawful act of war,” posting on X that seven locations had been hit with “coordinated missile, air and drone strikes.”
“India, against all sanity and rationality, has once again ignited an inferno in the region,” PTV said. Pakistan added that it had downed “five Indian fighter aircrafts and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”
India’s attack “deliberately targeted the civilian areas, on the false pretext of the presence of imaginary terrorist camps,” PTV said. It added that Pakistan’s armed forces had been “authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard.”
Tensions have been high since Hindu-majority New Delhi accused Muslim-majority Islamabad of being involved with terrorists who killed 26 people in Pahalgam in the disputed, India-controlled province of Kashmir on April 22. Pakistan has denied any involvement.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
In the wake of the massacre, the rivals have expelled each other’s diplomats and nationals, closed their borders and shuttered airspace. India has suspended a critical water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
In 2019, the two countries came close to a war after a Kashmiri insurgent rammed an explosive-laden car into a bus carrying Indian soldiers, killing 40. India responded with airstrikes.
Washington, the United Nations and multiple states are urging calm.
President Trump called the situation a “shame” and said, “I just hope it ends very quickly,” according to Reuters.
“I am monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who last week held calls with his counterparts in both nations. “I echo POTUS’s comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum restraint because the world could not “afford a military confrontation” between India and Pakistan, said a statement from spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
China also called for calm. Beijing is the largest investor in Pakistan by far and has multiple border disputes with India, including one in the northeastern part of the Kashmir region.
In Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions as blasts ripped through houses. He saw people running in panic, and authorities immediately cut power to the area.
People ran into the streets or open areas. “We were afraid the next missile might hit our house,” said Mohammad Ashraf, another resident.
Indian jets damaged infrastructure at a dam in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and hit close to at least two sites previously tied to militant groups that have since been banned, Pakistan said.
One hit Subhan Mosque in Punjab’s Bahawalpur city, killing 13 people, said 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 damaged a mosque in Muridke in Punjab. A sprawling building nearby served as the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba until 2013, when Pakistan banned the militant group and arrested its founder.
News reports from the region say there have been limited artillery exchanges across the countries’ border, and a terse statement from the Indian military suggested a stand-down on aggressive acts.
“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” the Indian Defense Ministry said. “We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable.”
The ministry said its attacks were proportional.
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature,” the statement said. “No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”
Alex Neill, a regional security expert with think tank Pacific Forum, said he believes “the greatest emphasis will be on de-escalation at the moment: The main thrust is that [India] wanted to punish Pakistan in a contained way without escalating to the nuclear threshold.”
Mr. Neill said he expects Washington to advocate calm between India and Pakistan. He noted U.S. diplomatic efforts to mediate ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“There is probably anxiety in the U.S. because they are having to deal with Zelenskyy-Putin negotiations and all the other negotiations,” he said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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