(Update with details, appointments)
Muzaffrabad, Pakistan/New Delhi, May 7 (Reuters) – I ndia attacked Pakistan and the Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday, with a balance of at least eight dead, and his neighbor described the assault as a “flagrant act of war”, in the worst fighting in more than two decades among the neighbors who have nuclear armament.
The armies of both nations exchanged intense bombings and heavy weapons shots through their border in the disputed Kashmir in at least three places, police and witnesses informed Reuters.
“In a flagrant act of war without provocation,” Indian combat planes remained in Indian airspace but “violated Pakistan’s sovereignty using weapons of confrontation,” said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan knocked down two aircraft and an Indian drone, the minister of Pakistani, Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters. There was no immediate Indian confirmation.
The Indian offensive occurred in the midst of an increase in tensions after an attack against Hindu tourists in the Indian Kashmir last month. Islamist assailants killed 26 men on April 22, the worst fact of this type of violence against civilians in India in almost two decades.
Pakistan said that India launched missiles against three places, but a statement from the Indian government did not detail the nature of the attacks.
The CNN News-18 Indian chain said that 12 “terrorists” had died and at least 55 people had been injured in the attacks, citing local sources. Reuters could not immediately confirm the information.
The Indian forces attacked the headquarters of the Islamist militant groups Jaish-E-Mohammed and Lashkar-E-Taiba in missile attacks against “terrorist infrastructure,” an Indian defense source told Reuters.
Indian television channels showed videos of explosions, fire, large columns of smoke in the night sky and people fleeing in several places in Pakistan and the Pakistani purse. Reuters could not verify the images independently.
Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif said that his country was responding to Indian attacks, but did not give details. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, described the situation as unfortunate and said that “I hope it ends fast.”
The emergency in the populous Pakistani province of Punjab was declared, said its main minister, and emergency hospitals and services were on a maximum alert.
After the explosions the electricity was cut in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani assharge, according to witnesses.
“A few minutes ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched the ‘Sindoor operation’ against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and in the Jammu and Kashmir area occupied by Pakistan, from where terrorist attacks against India were planned and directed,” said the Indian government in a statement.
“Our actions have been centered, mesurated and of a non -staggered nature. No Pakistani military installation has been attacked. India has demonstrated considerable moderation in the selection of objectives and in the execution method,” he added.
A Pakistani army spokesman said that five places had been achieved, including two mosques, and reported three dead and 12 injured.
India blamed Pakistan for the acts of violence against Hindu tourists in the Indian Kashmir last month in which 26 men died and promised to respond.
Pakistan denied having to do with the murders and said he had intelligence information indicating that India planned an attack.
The name of the Indian military operation, Sindoor, is an apparent reference to the women who lost their spouses in the attack in Pahalgam last month.
Sindoor is the name in Hindi of the traditional red bermellón that the Hindu women married on their foreheads and symbolizes the protection and marriage commitment. Traditionally, women stop carrying it when they are widowed. (Asif Shahzad report, Gibran Peshimam, Ariba Shahid in Pakistan; written by YP rajesh. Edited in Spanish by Javier Leira)
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