India said early on Wednesday it had launched a strike in Pakistan over what is called “terrorist infrastructure” two weeks after killing more than 20 civilians in Kashmir, which was promoted by India due to attacks by armed extremists.
Residents of Muzaffarabad, some capital of Pakistan in Kashmir’s conflict zone, also reported that they had heard of the jets flying above. They said the land in a rural area near Muzaffarabad, which was once used by Pakistan-based extremist group Rashkar e Tayba, appears to have been targeted for strikes.
A spokesman for the Pakistani military said at least two other locations were also attacked. One was Bahawalpur in Punjab, where the site of a religious seminary associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group. The other was Kotori, a Kashmir city managed by Pakistan.
Pakistani Army’s Public Relations Director Ahmed Sharif Chaudhli confirmed that India has fired missiles in three different cities.
Chaudhry reported that the attack was launched from Indian territory and no violations of Pakistan’s airspace were committed.
He said the missiles targeted civilians in Mazafarabad and Kotori, managed by Kashmir, similar to Bahawalpur, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Pakistani military said the troops would respond to the Indian strike “a time and place of its own choice.”
“That would not be answered,” the spokesman said in a statement. This was carried by the Associated Press in Pakistan.
The explosion took place 15 days after extremists fired a group of tourists in India-controlled Kashmir region on April 22, killing 26 people and injuring more than dozens of others.
The massacre has been one of the worst attacks on Indian civilians for decades, and India quickly suggested that its Pakistani neighbours and large intestines were involved. The two nuclear-armed countries have fought several wars with Kashmir, which they share, but each claims overall.
The Pakistani government has denied involvement in the attack, and India has offered little evidence to support the accusations. Still, shortly after the onslaught, India announced a surge in punitive measures against Pakistan.
In Kashmir, the Indian army continued hunting for the perpetrators, arresting hundreds and commenced a drastic clampdown. And India and Pakistan repeatedly exchanged small fires along the border in the days following the attack.
But the Indian strike is an intensifying conflict that risks causing an all-out war that could be difficult to contain. The Pakistani government previously vowed to be kind to Indian invasions, and both countries have the capacity to cause great damage.