Reuters
India has conducted a series of attacks on locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
"Operation Sindoor" was the name given to the strikes, which the Indian defense ministry said were part of a "commitment" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the attack on April 22 that killed 25 Indians and one Nepali national.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stated that the "heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished" due to the strikes, which Pakistan has called "unprovoked" and denied any role in the incident last month.
The Pakistani military claims to have shot down a drone and five Indian planes. India has not yet addressed these allegations.
According to Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan's military spokesperson, at least 26 persons were killed and 46 injured. Meanwhile, India said that Pakistani firing in Indian-administered Kashmir killed at least seven civilians.
India hit where?
Early on Wednesday morning, Delhi announced that nine distinct sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir had been hit.
It said that these locations were "terrorist infrastructure"—areas where assaults were "planned and directed"
It emphasized that its "actions have been focused, measured, and non-escalatory in nature" and that it had not struck any military installations in Pakistan.
Pakistan claims that three distinct regions were affected: Bahawalpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Kotli, and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Khawaja Asif, Pakistan's defense minister, told GeoTV that India's accusation of "targeting terrorist camps" is untrue and that the strikes struck residential areas.
What prompted India to attack?
The attacks follow weeks of escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the shootings in Pahalgam, a charming tourist town.
26 persons were killed in a militant attack on April 22; survivors claim the militants were specifically targeting Hindu men.
It caused a great deal of ire in India and was the biggest attack on people in the area in 20 years.
"Those who planned and executed it will be punished beyond their imagination," Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared, adding that the nation would pursue the culprits "till the ends of the Earth."
However, it is still unknown who carried out the attack at Pahalgam, and India has not identified any party it believes was responsible.
However, Indian officials have claimed that two of the attackers were citizens of Pakistan; Delhi has accused Pakistan of aiding extremists, a claim that Islamabad refutes. It claims it is unrelated to the attacks on April 22.
Both sides have taken tit-for-tat actions against one another in the two weeks that have passed, such as blocking border crossings, suspending visas, and dismissing ambassadors.
However, many anticipated that it would intensify into a cross-border attack, as demonstrated by the Pulwama attacks in 2019, which claimed the lives of 40 Indian paramilitary troops.
Why is Kashmir a bone of contention between Pakistan and India?
Since India and Pakistan were divided after gaining independence from Britain in 1947, they each only partially administer Kashmir, despite both countries' full claims to it.
It has been the subject of two wars between the nations.
However, extremist strikes have recently pushed the two nations to the verge of conflict. Since 1989, there has been an armed insurgency against Indian control in Indian-administered Kashmir, with militants attacking both civilians and security troops.
Since India repealed Article 370, which granted Kashmir semi-autonomous status in 2019, this was the first significant attack on civilians.
Following the ruling, there were protests in the area, but there was also a decline in militancy and a sharp rise in tourism.
India started "surgical strikes" against militant facilities across the Line of Control, the de facto boundary between India and Pakistan, in 2016 in response to the deaths of 19 Indian soldiers in Uri.
The Pulwama bombing in 2019 resulted in airstrikes deep into Balakot, the first inside Pakistan since 1971, killing 40 Indian paramilitary troops. This sparked an aerial dogfight and retaliatory raids.
Although neither spiraled, the world is nevertheless aware of the potential consequences. Many nations and diplomats worldwide have tried to prevent the current crisis from getting worse.
US President Donald Trump expressed his hope that the conflict "ends very quickly," while UN leader Antonio Guterres has already urged for "maximum restraint."
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