India, Pakistan launch multiple attacks
Authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said 11 civilians were killed by Indian shelling overnight.
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Authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said 11 civilians were killed by Indian shelling overnight.
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SRINAGAR (AFP) — Pakistan launched counterattacks against India Saturday after three of its air bases were struck overnight, and as the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors spiralled towards a full-blown war that sparked calls against “miscalculation.”
Indian Wing commander Vyomika Singh told a briefing Saturday there were “several high-speed missile attacks” on air bases, but “limited damage” to equipment.
Pakistan earlier accused India of targeting three of its bases with missiles — including one in Rawalpindi, some 10 kilometers from the capital, Islamabad.
Authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said 11 civilians were killed by Indian shelling overnight.
In a live broadcast aired by state television in the middle of the night, Pakistan’s military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif warned: “Now you just wait for our response.”
Later Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told senior officials “we have given India a befitting response and avenged the blood of our innocent citizens,” his office said in a statement.
The clashes, involving fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery, are the worst in decades and have killed more than 60 civilians.
The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.
India accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a United Nations-designated terrorist organization — of carrying out the attack, but Islamabad has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.
