Blasts rang out across the city of Jammu in Indian Kashmir late on Thursday during what India‘s military said was a Pakistani drone and missile attack across the disputed region on the second day of clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Sirens sounded and red flashes and projectiles could be seen in the night sky above the city which was plunged into a blackout.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on what appeared to be an escalation in the countries’ worst confrontation in more than two decades.
“Our army installations are under attack, it is happening in five districts of Jammu [region],” a security official said.
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Eight missiles, fired from Pakistan at the Jammu region towns of Satwari, Samba, Ranbir Singh Pura and Arnia, were all intercepted by air defence units, added an Indian military source who asked not to be named.
They were just part of a wider attack, the source added.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, had earlier said further retaliation was “increasingly certain” after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.
World powers from the US to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world’s most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions. The US consulate general in Pakistan’s Lahore ordered staff to shelter in place.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio called for de-escalation in separate calls with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, the state department said.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times.
The countries that both claim Kashmir in full and rule over parts of it separately acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.
[ Conflict has potential for serious escalationOpens in new window ]
In the latest confrontations, India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for what it says was a deadly Islamabad-backed attack in Indian Kashmir on April 22nd.
Pakistan says it was not involved and denied that any of the sites hit by India were militant bases. It said it shot down five Indian aircraft on Wednesday, a report the Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed as “misinformation”.
Pakistan’s military said earlier on Thursday it shot down 29 drones from India at multiple locations including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the army’s headquarters.
[ Analysis: US no longer in a position to put pressure on both sidesOpens in new window ]
The Indian defence ministry said Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India from Wednesday night into Thursday morning and they were “neutralised” by Indian air defence systems.
In response, Indian forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan on Thursday, the ministry said.
As the conflict escalated, tens of thousands of people living close to India’s 3,300km border with Pakistan began fleeing their homes.
The border town of Poonch in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, located along the line of control (LoC) – the de facto border dividing the Himalayan region between the two sides – was among the worst affected by Pakistani artillery, mortar and small arms fire. India says 16 people, including three children, have been killed since Wednesday morning.
Pakistan says 31 people have been killed and 57 injured by air strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and firing along the LoC.
Military officials in New Delhi said the Indian Army was responding “proportionally” to Pakistan’s bombard
Local media reported panic buying in some cities in the Indian state of Punjab, which shares a border with Pakistan, as people hoarded essentials. − Reuters
