ISLAMABAD (AP) — 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 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.
A heavy exchange of fire continued to follow the missile strikes, and officials in each country confirmed people killed. Sharif commended the armed forces for shooting down five Indian jets, which he said were hit after they fired their missiles but while still in Indian airspace.
There was no comment from India, but three planes fell onto villages in India-controlled territory, according to police and residents.