India launched military strikes on Pakistan on Wednesday, and Pakistan claimed it shot down five Indian Air Force jets, in an escalation that has pushed the two nations to the brink of war.
The escalation puts India and Pakistan, two neighbours with a long history of conflict, on risky ground, with Islamabad pledging retaliation for India’s strikes and the international community urging caution.
According to New Delhi, the strikes are in response to the April killing of 26 people, largely Indian tourists, who were killed when gunmen assaulted a picturesque mountain site in India-administered Kashmir, a disputed border region. India blames Pakistan for the strike, which Islamabad denies.
India launched “Operation Sindoor” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir early on Wednesday morning local time (Tuesday night ET).
Indian officials claimed nine sites were attacked, but no Pakistani civilian, commercial, or military targets were hit.
They stated that the 25-minute operation targeted “terrorist infrastructure” connected to two militant groups: Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The name ‘Sindoor’ appears to refer to the scarlet vermilion, or powder, that many Hindu women put on their foreheads after marriage. The April tourist massacre, which targeted men as victims, left several Indian women bereaved.
But Pakistan is painting a different picture of the strikes, claiming that civilians were killed and mosques were targeted. CNN has yet to verify these claims.
According to a Pakistani military spokesperson, 24 strikes were launched at six different locations.
Some of the strikes targeted the densely populated state of Punjab, according to Pakistan’s military, and were the deepest India has struck within Pakistan since 1971, when the two nations fought one of their four wars.
Pakistani security officials claimed to have shot down five Indian Air Force jets and one drone during India’s strike.
They did not specify where or how the jets were downed but said three Rafale jets were among them. India’s Rafale fighter jets are valuable military assets, purchased from France only a few years ago.
India has not acknowledged that any aircraft were lost. CNN has been unable to corroborate the claim and has contacted India’s government and military for comment.
According to eyewitnesses and local government officials, an unidentified aircraft crashed in the village of Wuyan in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The AFP news agency published photos of aircraft wreckage lying in a field next to a red brick building.
The images did not immediately reveal who owned the plane.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated on Wednesday that the country “has every right” to respond, describing India’s actions as an “act of war”.
India’s strikes killed at least 26 civilians and injured 46, according to a Pakistan military official, Reuters reports.
Lt Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, a Pakistani military spokesperson, said those murdered included teenagers and toddlers, the youngest of whom was three years old.
A senior Indian defence official informed CNN that eight civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir were also killed by cross-border firing by Pakistani troops.
