India fired missiles at Pakistan early Wednesday, in what it said was retaliation for last month’s massacre of Indian tourists. Pakistan called the strikes an act of war and claimed it downed several Indian fighter jets.
The missiles killed more than two dozen 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 Defence Ministry said.
Pakistan said it reserved the right to respond, raising the spectre that the back-and-forth could spiral into all-out conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals. Already, it’s their worst confrontation since 2019, when they came close to war.
Following the strikes, there was a heavy exchange of fire that officials in each country said left more people dead. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commended the armed forces for shooting down five Indian jets, which he said were hit after …