Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking member of the US Senate’s foreign relations committee, has urged restraint, saying she is “gravely concerned by reports of military escalation between India and Pakistan.” The world can ill afford instability in South Asia. The government of Pakistan has claimed that five Indian fighter jets were shot down after strikes against Pakistani territory. Earlier we reported that at least two had been shot down. The Indian government has made no official statement, but earlier an Indian official speaking to Reuters said a fighter jet had crashed in Indian administered Kashmir and the pilot was taken to hospital. Control of Kashmir, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been disputed since India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders: the “line of control” based on a ceasefire border established after their 1947-48 war. India and Pakistan have gone to war twice since over Kashmir, most recently in 1999. Read more here. We’ve started to receive images of the unknown aircraft that crashed in the outskirts of the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir. Police said the aircraft fell shortly after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan. India’s ministry of defence has announced a press briefing on Operation Sindoor will take place at 10am local time (4.30am GMT) on Wednesday. Local media is reporting that defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Army, Air Force and Navy chiefs the strikes on Pakistan territory overnight. An unknown aircraft has crashed on a school building in the outskirts of the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir. Police and residents said the aircraft fell in the early hours of Wednesday, shortly after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan. “There was a huge fire in the sky. Then we heard several blasts also,” said Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a local resident in southern Wuyan village in Pampore area, where the incident occurred. Firefighters reportedly struggled for hours to extinguish the fires. Police and military officials sealed off the area immediately after the incident. An Indian official speaking to Reuters said a fighter jet crashed in Indian administered Kashmir and the pilot was taken to hospital. It’s not clear if this is the same incident as the crash in Wuyan village. Earlier a Pakistani official told the Guardian that at least two jets of the Indian air force had been shot down. US secretary of state Marco Rubio has spoken with his counterparts from India and Pakistan, encouraging both sides to engage in discussions to settle an escalating military confrontation, the White House said late on Tuesday. “He is encouraging India and Pakistan to re-open a channel between their leadership to defuse the situation and prevent further escalation,” said US national security council spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement. As dawn breaks in Pakistan, we’ve begun to receive new images that show the aftermath of India’s overnight strikes. The Guardian has published video from on the ground, that shows explosions close to the border in Kashmir as India strikes Pakistani territory. South-Asia analyst Michael Kugelman has told the Associated Press that “these are some of the most high-intensity Indian strikes in Pakistan in years, and Pakistan’s response will surely pack a punch as well.” These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other. The escalation risks are real. And they could well increase, and quickly.” Kugelman notes that India’s strike on both India’s initial strikes and Pakistan’s response are already “higher up the escalatory ladder than any time in [the 2019] crisis.” In 2019 India conducted air strikes on what it said was a militant training camp near the Pakistani town of Balakot in response to a suicide car bombing in Kashmir’s Pulwama area. Pakistan, which said the planes had bombed an empty hillside and not a camp, launched a retaliatory incursion into Indian airspace that led to a dogfight between the two air forces, leading to the capture of an Indian pilot. The situation cooled after he was released days later. At least eight people, including a child, have been killed and 35 injured after India launched attacks on what it claimed were nine sites of “terrorist infrastructure” inside Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, in a sharp escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Loud explosions were heard early on Wednesday, and power was knocked out in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, witnesses said. In response, Pakistani military spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said at least two Indian air force jets had been shot down, calling India’s strikes a “heinous provocation”. Read our full report here. UK politicians have urged restraint after the strikes from India into Pakistani-controlled territory. Lord Ahmad, who served as South Asia minister under the previous Conservative administration, said the missile strikes were an “alarming escalation”. The potential of a war tonight is real - we need urgent international engagement to prevent a widening of this conflict which carries serious implications not just for the region but for the wider world.” Scotland’s first minister John Swinney said he was “deeply” concerned by the escalation in violence, while Labour MP Stella Creasy warned the “world cannot stand by” as the conflict spirals and the risk of harm to civilians in the region increases. In line with a number of other airline, IndiGo has announced flight cancellations to and from Srinagar, Jammu, Amristar, Leh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Bikaner and Jodhpur. The airline has said it anticipates further changes to its schedule. The Indian army has said that three Indian civilians have been killed by shelling from Pakistani troops in Kashmir. There have been multiple reports of exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops continue across multiple points along the line of control throughout the night. The UK Foreign Office has said that it advises against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border and to the Balochistan province of Pakistan. A statement said: “On the night of 6 May (UK Time), the Indian Ministry of Defence stated it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In response, there are reports of Pakistani artillery fire across the Line of Control.” “Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority indicated that it was closing Pakistan airspace for at least 48 hours. There are reports of flights being diverted. British nationals should contact their airline for up-to-date information.” “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. British nationals should stay up to date with our travel advice and follow the advice of local authorities.” Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated rapidly after the massacre of 25 Indian tourists and a Nepalese citizen in the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region on Tuesday, prompting warnings of a return to conflict. A previously unknown Islamic militant group calling itself the Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack, which India immediately linked to Pakistan, although it did not publicly produce any evidence. Pakistan has denied any involvement. Among a string of punitive measures announced since Tuesday, India has downgraded diplomatic ties, suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals. In retaliation, Pakistan has closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. Why is Kashmir so sensitive? The region, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been disputed since India and Pakistan came into being in 1947. Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders: the “line of control” based on a ceasefire border established after the 1947-48 war. China controls another part in the east. India and Pakistan have gone to war a further two times over Kashmir, most recently in 1999. The dispute stems from the partition of colonial India in 1947, when small, semi-autonomous “princely states” across the subcontinent were being folded into India or Pakistan, and the local ruler chose to become part of India despite the fact the area had a Muslim majority. Armed insurgents in Kashmir have resisted Delhi for decades, with many Muslim Kashmiris supporting the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India accuses Pakistan of backing militants – a claim Pakistan denies. What has happened in recent years? In 2019 Narendra Modi’s government launched a severe security crackdown in Indian-administered Kashmir and revoked the region’s special status, which had granted it limited autonomy since 1949. The move fulfilled a longstanding Hindu-nationalist pledge and was widely welcomed across India, but angered many in the territory itself. Against a backdrop of widespread repression, insurgent violence tapered off and tourists returned to the region. New rules were implemented that allowed outsiders to buy land in Kashmir for the first time, which many saw as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) to dispossess them from their land and change the Muslim demography of the region. Under its special status Kashmir had been able to define who its permanent residents were, preventing incomers from other parts of India from applying for jobs, scholarships or buying land. With the new domicile rule, India widened who was eligible to live and work in Kashmir, leading to accusations that it was trying to change the demographic make-up of the region. The Resistance Front cited this claim when it claimed Tuesday’s attack. Why has India reacted so forcefully to the Kashmir attack? The attack – in the midst of a visit by the US vice-president, JD Vance – was highly embarrassing for Modi and his BJP party, which has been boasting since 2019 about the success of its security policies in Kashmir. The anger in India has been exacerbated by the sectarian nature of the attack, during which some of the male tourists were reportedly asked to recite Islamic verses to determine who would be killed A Pakistan military spokesperson had told Reuters that exchanges of fire with Indian troops continue across multiple points along the line of control. The same spokesperson has claimed that five Indian aircraft were shot down, but the Guardian has been unable to independently verify this. The spokesperson told Reuters that the Indian planes were shot down by Pakistan while they were in Indian airspace. US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said that he is monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely. Rubio has said he will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution and echoed President Trump’s comments that “this hopefully ends quickly.” Protests against India have broken out in the Pakistani city of Hyderabad. Indian flags have been defaced as well as images of prime minister Narendra Modi. A Pakistani military spokesperson has told the Reuters and AFP news agencies that the death toll from Indian strikes on Pakistan has risen to eight civilians. Two further people have been reported missing with 35 injured in the strikes. The spokesperson reported up to 24 strikes across six locations. Two Air India international flights en route to Amritsar are being diverted to Delhi, the airline has announced. The airline has said it has cancelled all flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot until midday local time on Wednesday. Meanwhile, in a statement Qatar Airways says it has temporarily suspended flights to Pakistan. We’re getting some pictures from on the ground in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after India fired missiles at Pakistani territory. A US state department spokesperson has said they are aware of reports of the ongoing attacks but had “no assessment to offer at this time.” This remains an evolving situation and we are closely monitoring developments.” In recent days, Washington has urged the nuclear-armed neighbours to work with each other to de-escalate tensions and arrive at a “responsible solution.” US leaders, including president Donald Trump, offered support to India after the 22 April militant attack in which 26 people were killed. American officials did not directly blame Pakistan. Analysts said last month that Washington may leave India and Pakistan on their own in the early days of the tensions, in part because it already has a lot to deal with, given US involvement in trying to reach diplomatic goals in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza. Indian airline Spice Jet has said that due to the ongoing situation, “airports in parts of northern India” including Dharamshala, Leh, Jammu, Srinagar and Amritsar are closed. News of the strikes have also hit India’s stock futures with the benchmark NSE Nifty 50 index falling 1.19%. The director general of the media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces has confirmed to the Guardian that at least two jets of the Indian air force have been shot down. “I confirm that we have shot down at least two Indian Air Force jets,” said DG Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. Separately a senior security official, requesting anonymity, said that the military shot down three Indian jets. “We have shot down one jet in Bathinda, Indian Punjab province bordering with Pakistan Punjab province, and two jets in Indian occupied Kashmir in Awantipora and Akhnoor. They were in their airspace after the attacks and we had fired missiles,” said the official. He added that “India had started the conflict with its attacks on civilians in Pakistan. We had to retaliate. We had to protect our sovereignty.” Cross border firing continues across the line of control between parts of Pakistan and India administered Kashmir, after Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan. Jawad Ahmed Paras, from Neelum Valley in Pakistan administered Kashmir told the Guardian that the cross-border firing is going on without any pause. Mortar shells are being fired from both sides on checkpoints. Paras said “the loud explosions have been heard in the valley since the Indian airstrikes. Everyone is awake and very worried. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Some people who had built shelters and bunkers have moved to them. None has seen such severe firings over two decades.” After the Indian airstrikes, we are terrified. We can’t sleep tonight. None can sleep when the mortars are fired and everyone is worried about his life.” The strikes came just hours after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said that water flowing across India’s borders would be stopped. Pakistan had warned that tampering with the rivers that flow from India into its territory would be an “act of war.” Modi did not mention Islamabad specifically, but his speech came after Delhi suspended its part of the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water critical to Pakistan for consumption and agriculture. “India’s water used to go outside, now it will flow for India,” Modi said in a speech. The Indus treaty governs the distribution and use of waters from the Indus River and its tributaries, which feed 80% of Pakistan’s irrigated agriculture and its hydropower. As well as suspending the treaty, Delhi has suspended trade with Pakistan, summoned and expelled its diplomats, and suspended visas for Pakistanis. Pakistan has also suspended all trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian airlines. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in Delhi on Wednesday, two days after talks in Islamabad with Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. Tehran has offered to mediate between the two nations, and Araghchi will be the first senior foreign diplomat to visit both countries since the 22 April attack sent relations plunging. If you’re just joining us, India has attacked nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Wednesday with at least three deaths reported. Pakistan has said it was mounting a response as the worst fighting in years erupted between the two countries. Armies of the nuclear-armed neighbours have also exchanged intense shelling and heavy gunfire across their frontier in disputed Kashmir in at least three places, police and witnesses told the Reuters news agency. The offensive has occurred amid heightened tensions in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month. Islamist assailants killed 26 men in the 22 April attack, the worst such violence targeted at civilians in India in nearly two decades. India said it struck “terrorist infrastructure” where attacks against it were planned and directed. Pakistan’s defence minister has told local media that all sites targeted by India were civilian and not militant camps. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has announced a meeting of the national security committee in Islamabad following the strikes. Pakistan’s Minister of defence has confirmed at least three civilians, including a child, were killed after India fired missiles at Pakistani territory, according to AFP. “They have targeted multiple locations, which all are civilian ... We have confirmed reports of three civilians killed that includes one child,” Khawaja Muhammad Asif told AFP. Reuters is reporting that senior Indian officials spoke to counterparts in the US, UK, Saudia Arabia, UAE and Russia to brief them on the steps taken by the military. A diplomatic official has told the news agency that this included a discussion between India’s national security advisor and US secretary of state Marco Rubio after the strikes took place. UN secretary general António Guterres is “very concerned” about the Indian military operations across the line of control and the international border, a spokesperson has said. The UN chief has called for maximum military restrain from both India and Pakistan. “The secretary-general is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries,” the spokesperson said. “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.” Reports continue to come in of exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops across the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Indian police have reportedly claim that two women have been injured in shelling, according to the Reuters news agency. The same source reports “intense shelling” at three places across the Line of Control. Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, confirmed to the Guardian that missiles from Indian airspace had targeted at least seven sites in Pakistan, including at least two in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Asif said that Pakistan would give a massive retaliation to the Indian attacks before sunrise. Asif said: We can confirm at least seven civilian areas have been targeted by Indian missiles fired from Indian airspace. We are in the process of retaliating. You will see Pakistan’s response before the morning. Soon after the missile attacks inside Pakistan, the Indian armed forces confirmed it targeted nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir as part of “Operation Sindoor”. The Indian statement further said that it had targeted “terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”. The statement said the strike comes in the wake of the “barbaric” attack in which dozens of Indians were murdered in Pahalgam in Kashmir. Pakistan’s defense minister rejected the Indian claims that the Indians had targeted any terrorist infrastructures and he called it a “barbaric attack” on the civilians. Asif said: I invite international and national media to see these sites if they had any terrorists. All targeted sites were civilian sites. India lied about Pakistan’s involvement in the Pahalgam incident. India is lying again that they have targeted terrorist infrastructures. Residents in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Kupwara district reported an exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops on the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Haji Sanaullah told the Guardian: We are hearing constant loud bangs and some shells have landed near civilian areas. “No one has been hurt so far,” they added. The chief minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, has declared a state of emergency across the province. All doctors and medical staff in Punjab’s hospitals have had their leave cancelled, and have been directed to report to duty immediately. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has announced a meeting of the national security committee in Islamabad following the Indian missile attack on Pakistan-administered territory. The meeting has been scheduled for 10am local time, Geo TV is reporting, citing Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar. We reported earlier that Pakistan’s security sources said it shot down two Indian jets in retaliation for the Indian strikes on Pakistan-administered territory. Samaa TV, citing Pakistan’s security sources, reports that a Rafale fighter jet belonging to the Indian air force was shot down near Ahmedpur East in Bahawalpur. Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has said “civilians were killed, including women and children” in the Indian attack on the Pakistan-administered territory. Asif, speaking to Geo News, described the Indian attack as cowardly and covert and said it had targeted a civilian population. India’s claims that it targeted “terrorist camps” are false, he added. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said India has carried out “cowardly” attacks on five locations in Pakistan-administered territory. In a statement posted to X, Sharif said: Pakistan has every right to respond forcefully to this act of war imposed by India, and a forceful response is being given. He said the “entire nation” stands with Pakistan’s armed forces on “how to deal with the enemy”. Pakistan’s air force has shot down two Indian jets in retaliation for the strikes on Pakistani-administered territory, according to Pakistan security sources. A statement from Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV says Pakistani forces are responding “forcefully” to India’s “aggression”. All Pakistani air force aircraft are safe, it says, citing security sources, adding: Pakistan armed forces are giving a befitting reply to the enemy’s aggression. India has fired at least three missiles from its airspace to three cities including two cities of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least two civilians and injuring more than a dozen, as per the initial updates says the director general (DG) of Pakistan’s armed forces media wing. Pictures shared on social media showed a bloodied child lying dead and seriously injured in a pool of blood on stretchers. In a video widely shared on Twitter/X, a huge blast lights up the area with thunderous sound and smoke billowing. The missile attacks were reported around 1 am local time. DG of Pakistan’s armed forces Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that Pakistan will give a befitting response to the “cowardly” attacks on civilians by India. A few hours before the attacks, Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, said a clash with India “can happen anytime” as tensions between the nuclear-armed states increased between the two countries in the wake of the 22 April militant attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. India had blamed Pakistan for the terrorist attack. Islamabad had rejected New Delhi’s accusations and asked for a transparent investigation. US president Donald Trump was just asked about the Indian missile strikes into Pakistani-administered territory. “It’s a shame,” Trump told reporters. “We just heard about it.” He said “people knew something was going to happen based on the past” because both sides have been fighting “for many, many decades and centuries.” “I just hope it ends very quickly,” Trump added. An initial damage assessment of the Indian missile strikes shows at least three people were killed and 12 others injured in missile strikes by India in Pakistani-administered territory, a Pakistan military spokesperson has said. Kotli, Bahawalpur’s Ahmedpur East, Bagh, Muzaffarabad and Muridke were struck in the attack, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Geo News, Dawn newspaper reports. It cites him as saying: In Ahmedpur East, we have information about the martyrdom of a child and 12 people injured … Two civilians were martyred in Kotli. Dawn also quotes the Pakistan military spokesperson as saying: We know that a mosque was struck [in Ahmedpur]; ordinance landed on a house near it … Parents and a child are stuck and being rescued. India’s armed forces have said Pakistan has “again violate[d] the ceasefire agreement by firing artillery in Bhimber Gali in Poonch-Rajauri area”. The Indian army is “responding appropriately in a [calibrated] manner”, it says in a post on X. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said all domestic and international flights on the ground have been put on hold. All inbound and outbound flights are being diverted to Karachi, it said. Authorities have advised passengers not to come to the airport and to return home. At least one child was killed and two others wounded after India fired missiles across the border into Pakistan-administered territory early on Wednesday, Pakistani security officials said. Dawn newspaper cites a statement by Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV News: In the cowardly attack, one innocent child has been martyred so far, while one woman and one man are seriously injured. Here’s more from the Pakistan military spokesperson, who said India fired missiles across the border in three locations on Wednesday. ARY News, citing Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, says India fired missiles from its airspace which hit areas in Kotli, Muzaffarabad and Bahawalpur. The spokesperson said Pakistan’s air force responded quickly to the missile attack, activating its defense systems and preventing any Indian aircraft from penetrating Pakistani airspace. Dawn newspaper cites Chaudhry as saying: Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing. This heinous provocation will not go unanswered. We reported earlier that the Indian armed forces said it targeted nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian army has also posted to X, writing “Justice is Served” and “Jai Hind!”, meaning “victory to India”. The post is accompanied by the hashtag #PahalgamTerrorAttack, referring to the deadly militant attack last month that killed 26 people. Multiple loud explosions were heard in the mountains around the city of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, as well as in two other places in the region, Reuters reported, citing witnesses and a Pakistani TV channel. After the explosions, Muzaffarabad’s power was blacked out, the witnesses said. The Indian armed forces have confirmed it targeted nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir as part of “Operation Sindoor”. A statement from the Indian armed forces reads: A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed. Altogether, nine (9) sites have been targeted. It said its actions have been “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature” and that no Pakistani military facilities were targeted, adding: India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution. The statement says the strike comes in the wake of the “barbaric” attack in which dozens of Indians were murdered in Pahalgam in Kashmir. A Pakistani military spokesperson has said India attacked Pakistan in three locations with missiles on Wednesday. Multiple loud explosions were heard in the Pakistani Kashmir area close to the mountains around the city of Muzaffarabad after midnight on Tuesday, Reuters reports, citing multiple witnesses. After the explosions, the city’s power was blacked out, according to the witnesses. It comes amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following an attack in Kashmir last month, which left 26 Indian nationals killed and 10 injured after suspected militants opened fire at a popular local tourist destination.
Author: Jonathan Yerushalmy (now); Léonie Chao-Fong (earlier)