India and Pakistan exchanged heavy shelling yesterday, killing 26 Pakistanis and 12 Indians in the most serious military confrontation between the two nuclear powers in two decades.
Since the April 22 attack that killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir, tensions have escalated between the two countries, which have been at odds since the partition in 1947.
The tension escalated into a military confrontation on Tuesday evening. Beijing and London rushed to offer mediation to defuse the crisis, while the United Nations, Moscow, Washington, Paris, and the European Union called for restraint.
The two armies exchanged artillery fire along the disputed Kashmir border after Indian strikes on Pakistani territory in response to the Pahalgam attack.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the strikes were limited to ‘terrorist camps’ that were carefully identified.
Indian Army spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Fomyka Singh said the strikes ‘targeted and destroyed nine terrorist camps’, clarifying that the targets were ‘chosen to avoid damage to civilian facilities and loss of life’.
India confirmed it had destroyed sites linked to the jihadist group it holds responsible for the Pahalgam attack in Indian Kashmir, though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
India accuses Pakistan of involvement in the Pahalgam attack, but Islamabad denies any role.
According to Pakistani Army spokesman General Ahmed Chaudhry, Indian missiles that struck six cities in Pakistani Kashmir and Punjab killed at least 26 civilians and injured 46 others.
Chaudhry also said the strikes damaged the Neelum–Jhelum hydroelectric dam in Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during a parliamentary session: “Our enemies thought they could attack us under the cover of darkness and in secrecy, but they failed.”
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to ‘boost’ his popularity, adding that Islamabad ‘will not delay in settling the score’.
The Pakistani Ministry of Defence confirmed the downing of ‘five hostile jets’ in Indian airspace, without giving further details.
In the morning, an Indian security source reported that three Indian Air Force fighter jets had crashed for reasons not immediately clarified. The fate of the pilots was not disclosed, and journalists were not allowed into some of the bombarded areas.
India confirmed at least 12 deaths and 38 injuries in the town of Poonch in Indian Kashmir due to the shelling.
Fighting broke out overnight and continued into the morning around the town, which was targeted by a barrage of shells.
After an emergency meeting, Pakistan’s National Security Committee, which convenes only in emergency situations, called on ‘the international community to recognise the gravity of India’s illegal and unjustified actions, and to hold it accountable for its blatant violations of international norms and laws’.
The Turkish foreign ministry stated that ‘the attack carried out by India last night fuels the risk of a full-scale war’.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar intensified phone calls with Japan, France, Germany and Spain to justify the strikes.
Indian intelligence reports that one of the sites targeted by the Indian army overnight, the Subhan Mosque in Bahawalpur, Pakistani Punjab, is linked to groups affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba movement.
India accuses this group, suspected of being behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, of carrying out the April 22 attack.
Analyst Praveen Donthi of the International Crisis Group said: “The level of escalation has surpassed the 2019 crisis, with potentially dire consequences.”
In 2019, New Delhi struck Pakistani territory following a deadly attack on an Indian military convoy in Kashmir.
On Tuesday evening, Modi announced his intention to divert rivers that originate in India and flow into Pakistan – a threat that experts say would be difficult to implement in the short term.
Several airlines cancelled flights in the region covering India and Pakistan due to airport and airspace closures. Pakistan later announced that its airspace was open and safe.
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