Pakistan ‘shoots down two Indian jets’ – after India fires missiles on ‘terrorist camps’

India has fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory, Pakistani security officials have said.

Afterwards, Pakistan‘s air force shot down two Indian jets, state-run Pakistan Television reported, quoting Pakistani officials.

Locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province were hit in the Indian attack, according to officials.

India said it had carried out a “precision strike” on “terrorist camps” and its actions were “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”, adding: “No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.”

But Pakistan’s defence minister said all the targets hit were civilian places, not militant camps.

At least three areas were targeted and one of the missiles struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, and a woman and man were injured, it was reported.

Also, two women were wounded, one of them critically, in Indian-administered Kashmir in shelling by Pakistani troops, according to police.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif called the Indian missile attack an “act of war” and vowed his country “has every right to give a full and strong response”.

The Indian defence ministry said it had launched Operation Sindoor, hitting “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.

It said a total of nine sites were targeted.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been escalating following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir last month.

Following the Indian missile attack in the early hours of Wednesday local time, Pakistani officials said their country had launched retaliatory strikes.

Pakistani army spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif, told ARY News that the missiles were launched from within Indian territory and that no Indian aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace.

“This was a cowardly attack targeting innocent civilians under the cover of darkness,” he told the broadcaster.

A statement by Pakistani PM Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said: “The deceitful enemy has carried out cowardly attacks at five locations in Pakistan.

“Pakistan has every right to give a full and strong response to this act of war imposed by India – and a full response is being given. The entire nation stands with the Armed Forces of Pakistan, and the morale and spirit of the Pakistani people are high.

“The Pakistani nation and the Armed Forces of Pakistan know well how to deal with the enemy. We will never allow the enemy to succeed in its nefarious objectives.”

Multiple loud explosions were heard in several places in Pakistan and in the mountains around the city of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

After the blasts, power was blacked out in Muzaffarabad, witnesses said.

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At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir on 22 April.

India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.

Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.

Since the attack, Pakistan’s military has been on high alert after a cabinet minister said Islamabad had credible intelligence indicating that India could attack.

And Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif told Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim that the world should be “worried” about the prospect of a full-scale conflict involving the two nations.

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