India launched missile strikes on multiple targets in Pakistan-administered territory early Wednesday, intensifying a growing conflict that has already left 31 people dead.
Pakistan's leadership has condemned the action as an "act of war." India also reported casualties resulting from Pakistani attacks on its side of Kashmir.
According to Indian officials, the strikes targeted facilities used by militants allegedly involved in last month’s deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. At least seven individuals were reported killed on the Indian side due to artillery exchanges.
Pakistan responded by stating that 26 people were killed in the missile strikes, with an additional five casualties from cross-border shelling along the Line of Control. Pakistani authorities also claimed they shot down multiple Indian fighter jets, two of which crashed in Indian-administered territory. The Indian army reported that at least three civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling.
10 civilians killed amid cross-border shelling along LoC in J&K’s Poonch: Indian Army
The latest surge in hostilities follows the massacre of tourists in Pahalgam, which India blames on Pakistan-backed militants—a charge Islamabad denies. The Kashmir region, divided between the two nations since 1949, remains a flashpoint of long-standing territorial dispute.