India said early on Wednesday it had struck Pakistan two weeks after killing more than 20 civilians in Kashmir, which was promoted by India due to attacks by armed extremists.
The Indian government said its forces have attacked nine locations on the Pakistani side of Pakistan and the conflict Kashmir region. Pakistani military officials said five locations have been attacked in Punjab and parts of Kashmir.
“Our actions are essentially focused, measured and unexhausted. Pakistan's military facilities are not targeted,” the Indian government said, noting that it has announced a strike.
In its own statement, the Pakistani government said the strike “cannot be answered.” “The temporary joy of India will be replaced by lasting sadness,” he added.
The exact nature of the Indian strike was unknown.
Residents of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Kashmir's Pakistani part, reported that they had heard a jet flying above. They said the land in a rural area near Muzaffarabad, which was once used by Pakistan-based extremist group Rashkar e Tayba, appears to have been targeted for strikes.
A spokesman for the Pakistani military said four other locations were also attacked. One was Bahawalpur in Punjab, where the site of a religious seminary associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group. The other was Kotori, a Kashmir city managed by Pakistan.
Pakistani forces said Indian planes did not enter Pakistani airspace when they launched the attack.
The explosion took place 15 days after extremists fired a group of tourists in India-controlled Kashmir region on April 22, killing 26 people and injuring more than dozens of others.
The massacre has been one of the worst attacks on Indian civilians for decades, and India quickly suggested that its Pakistani neighbours and large intestines were involved. The two nuclear-armed countries have fought several wars with Kashmir, which they share, but each claims overall.
The Pakistani government has denied involvement in the attack, and India has offered little evidence to support the accusations. Still, shortly after the onslaught, India announced a surge in punitive measures against Pakistan.
In Kashmir, the Indian army continued hunting for the perpetrators, arresting hundreds and commenced a drastic clampdown. And India and Pakistan repeatedly exchanged small fires along the border in the days following the attack.
But the Indian strike is an intensifying conflict that risks causing an all-out war that could be difficult to contain. The Pakistani government previously vowed to be kind to Indian invasions, and both countries have the capacity to cause great damage.
anupreeta das Reports of contributions.
