
KARACHI, Pakistan - At least eight people have been killed and 35 injured while two are missing after India launched missile attacks inside Pakistan, a spokesperson for the Pakistani Army said Wednesday.
The Indian army, “using different weapons, targeted six places, which left 24 impacts,” Lt. Gen.
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told a pre-dawn news conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Multiple explosions were heard in different parts of Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir.
Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the spokesman of Pakistan’s military, told local broadcaster Geo News that India had fired missiles on the cities of Bahawalpur, Muridke, Bagh, Muzaffarabad and Kotli from its own air space.
Chaudhry said Pakistani forces had begun retaliatory attacks against India.
According to an Indian Defense Ministry statement, Indian armed forces launched “Operation Sindoor” and targeted nine sites in Pakistan. It claimed “hitting terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the statement said.
The escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors comes in the wake of April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir in which 26 people were killed.
India had blamed Pakistan for the attack, claiming there were cross-border links.
Pakistan denied that it had anything to do with the killings.
Both countries took a plethora of measures against each other after the attack, including suspension of visas and expulsion of diplomats.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Air Force has downed five Indian Air Force jets following missile strikes by India, Pakistan’s defense chief said..
“The Pakistan Air Force has shot down at least five Indian fighter jets in response to India’s recent cross-border aggression,” Defense Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed to private broadcaster Geo TV.
Earlier, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed downing two aircraft of the Indian Air Force, according to CNN.
There was no immediate reaction from Indian authorities to Pakistani state media reports about the downing of the jets. / Anadolu / PNA