Islamabad, Pakistan/New Delhi, India
CNN
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India launched a military strike in Pakistan on Wednesday, claiming that Pakistan had fired down five Indian Air Force jets in an escalation that pushed two countries to the brink of war.
Due to escalation, India and Pakistan are two neighbours with a long history of conflict, and in dangerous territory, Islamabad has vowed to oppose India’s strike, and the international community is calling for restraint.
New Delhi said the strike corresponds to the massacre of 26 people (mostly Indian tourists). India blamed Pakistan for its attack, which Islamabad denied.
This is what we know so far.
India launched “Operation Sindoor” early on Wednesday morning (ET on Tuesday night) and said it was targeting “terrorist infrastructure” in both Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Indian officials said nine sites were targeted, but claimed that Pakistani civilian, economic or military locations were not struck.
The name “Sindoor” appears to be a reference to a red insect, or powder. Many Hindu women wear it on their forehead after marriage. Tourists in April left a few Indian women widowed.
However, Pakistan paints another picture of the strike – saying civilians were killed and mosques were attacked. CNN has not yet verified these claims.
A Pakistani military spokesman said six locations were hit by 24 strikes. According to the Pakistani military, some of these strikes collided with the densely populated Punjab, and the deepest India struck in Pakistan since 1971, when the two countries fought one of four wars in 1971.
Pakistani security sources claimed they fired down an Indian Air Force jet and one drone during an Indian attack.
They didn’t say exactly where or how the Jets went down, but they said three Rafalejets were inside those planes. The Indian Rafare Fighters jet was purchased only from France a few years ago and is a respected military asset.
India has not confirmed that the plane has been lost. CNN was unable to verify the claim and reached out to the Indian government and the military for comment.
Witnesses and local government officials said an unidentified aircraft crashed in the Indian-controlled village of Uyyan in Kashmir. Photos issued by AFP News Agency showed the remains of an aircraft in the field next to the red brick building.
It was not immediately clear who the aircraft belonged to.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif on Wednesday said the country had “all rights” and called India’s actions “acts of war.”
Eight people were killed and 35 were injured on Indian strikes, according to Pakistani military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhri. The murdered people include teenagers and children. The youngest of them was three years old, he said.
Three Indian-controlled Kashmir civilians were also killed in artillery bombardment by Pakistani forces across the border, according to the Indian Army.
On Wednesday, the two sides exchanged gunfire and gunfire over Control (LOC), the de facto boundary that divides Kashmir.
The Indian-controlled Kashmir authorities have ordered citizens to evacuate from areas deemed dangerous, saying that accommodation, food and medicines will be provided.
The strike disrupts flights and Pakistan is closing some of its airspace. While several major international airlines have avoided flying through Pakistan, several Indian airlines have reported that they have closed the north flights and airports that have closed the airport.
Some context: During the weeks of the Pahargam Massacre, there were regular exchanges of gunfires along the control line.
Kashmir, the majority of Muslims, has been the flashpoint for relations between India and Pakistan since the two countries gained independence from the UK in 1947.
Bloody division of India in Britain – Both countries, emerging from Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan, claimed Kashmir in full and after gaining independence several months later, fought the first war of three wars over the territory.
The divided region is currently one of the most militarized locations in the world.
India has long accused Pakistan of having extremist groups attacking across the border. Islamabad has long denied it.
The April massacre of tourist hotspots in Pahargam caused widespread rage in India, putting a lot of pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu government.
India quickly condemned Islamabad, causing neglected retaliation measures as they both downgraded ties, cancelled visas for each other’s citizens, and saw India withdraw from the major water-sharing treaty.
The three previous wars over Kashmir were each covered in blood. The last of 1999 killed more than 1,000 Pakistani troops, by the most conservative estimate.
In the decades since then, extremist groups have been fighting Indian security forces. The violence has killed tens of thousands. The two countries have clashed multiple times, but most recently in 2019 when India launched an airstrike in Pakistan after denounced Islamabad for a suicide car bomb attack in the region.
However, these recent clashes did not explode into an all-out war. Both parties are aware of the risk. Since 1999, both countries have been working to strengthen their military forces, including arming them with nuclear weapons.
The strike has raised global alarms and pleas for the two countries to prevent further escalation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “deep concern” over India’s strike and warned that the world “cannot afford military conflict” between the two countries.
A State Department spokesman said last week that the US, which had been urging detention from both countries, would “keep close monitoring of development.”
“We are aware of the report, but there are no ratings to offer at this time,” the spokesman said Tuesday. “This remains an evolving situation and we are closely monitoring development.”
The United Arab Emirates, China and Japan are also urging both sides to de-escalate.
A senior Indian government official told CNN that New Delhi had explained to international counterparts the measures taken, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
