India launches airstrikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in response to Pahalgam attack

Dubai: India said its forces launched “Operation Sindoor” post-midnight, “hitting terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.

In a statement, the Indian government says “nine sites have been targeted”.

“Air strikes” were carried out in three regions of Pakistan, the Pakistani army announced, citing two towns in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and a third in Punjab, bordering India.

AFP correspondents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Punjab heard several loud explosions.

“Pakistan will respond to (India’s attacks) at a time and place of its own choosing,” said Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the military spokesperson, said, calling the air strikes a “heinous provocation.”

Pakistan also closed its airspace for 48 hours.

India said: “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

The statement added that the attack was ordered after last month’s deadly militant attack on tourists in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.

A spokesperson for Pakistan’s military said Islamabad “will respond to this [attack] at a time and place of its choosing”.

“All of our air force jets are airborne. This is a shameful and cowardly attack that was carried our from within India’s airspace,” the spokesman adds.

Indian forces also attacked Pakistan with missiles in three locations, Pakistan’s military spokesman was quoted by the country’s state TV as saying.

There are also reports of intense shelling and loud explosions in border areas of the Pakistan-administered state of Kashmir, according to Reuters news agency.

US President Donald Trump said he hoped clashes between India and Pakistan end "very quickly," after New Delhi's forces launched strikes and Islamabad vowed retaliation.

"They've been fighting for many, many decades and centuries, actually, if you really think about it... I just hope it ends very quickly," Trump said at the White House.

Two civilians in Kotli and a child in Bahwalpur, Pakistan, have been killed in India's strikes, a spokesperson for Pakistan's military says.

Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry adds that 12 more civilians were injured in Ahmedpur Sharqia in Bahwalpur, according to reports from Pakistani media Geo News.

He also says a family including a child have been trapped under the rubble of a collapsed house.