Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged gunfire overnight in Kashmir, New Delhi confirmed Thursday, following the most intense escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals in over two decades.
The flare-up comes a day after India launched missile strikes into Pakistani territory, claiming to have destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in response to a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir — an allegation Pakistan firmly denies.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, addressing the nation, vowed retaliation: “We will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs.”
The violence, which began with days of cross-border gunfire, intensified into heavy artillery shelling. At least 45 people have been confirmed dead on both sides, including children. Pakistan reported 31 civilian casualties, while India said 13 civilians and one soldier were killed by Pakistani fire.
Pakistan’s military claimed to have shot down five Indian jets — a statement India has not officially responded to, though a senior Indian security source admitted three aircraft had crashed within Indian territory.
The most devastating Indian strike targeted an Islamic seminary near Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab region, killing 13 people, according to the Pakistani military.
Heart-wrenching stories are emerging from both sides. In Indian-controlled Poonch, Madasar Choudhary recounted how his sister tried to save two children running from a neighbor’s house. “She screamed for them to get back inside… but shrapnel got to them — and they eventually died,” he said.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muhammad Riaz said his family had been left homeless. “There is no place to live… we have nowhere to go.”
Pakistan’s military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed cross-border firing continued overnight along the Line of Control (LoC), the unofficial but militarized frontier dividing Kashmir. He stated that Pakistan’s armed forces had been given authority to respond “in self-defence at a time, place and manner of its choosing.”
India also reported overnight use of “small arms and artillery guns” in several locations, stating its soldiers had “responded proportionately.”
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh defended the missile strikes, calling them a rightful response to last month’s attack in Pahalgam that left 26 Hindu tourists dead. New Delhi holds the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible — a charge Islamabad rejects.
As tensions simmer, Indian border districts remain on high alert. The Indian Express warned, “there is no reason to believe that the Pakistan Army has been chastened,” noting that Pakistan remains a formidable force.
International calls for de-escalation have intensified. “I want to see them stop,” said US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is set to meet India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi, after earlier visiting Pakistan in an effort to mediate.
Strategic analysts predict limited retaliatory strikes from Pakistan are imminent. “Pakistan has a limited objective of ensuring that it carries out a retaliatory strike to save face,” said Happymon Jacob of the Council for Strategic and Defence Research. “It will likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory.”
AFP
