India said earlier on Wednesday that it killed more than 20 civilians in India-managed Kashmir two weeks after the attack by militants.
The Indian government said its troops attacked nine locations on the side of Pakistan and Pakistan’s disputed Kashmir region. Pakistani military officials said five locations were attacked in Punjab and its part of Kashmir.
“Our actions have been centrally focused on, measuring and non-calculation. There are no military facilities targeting Pakistan,” the Indian government said.
The Pakistani government said in its own statement that the strike “will not be eliminated” and that it will respond “in the era and location of its own choice.” It added: “The temporary pleasure of India will be replaced by lasting sorrow.”
Pakistani military officials said they had begun a “measurable but powerful” reaction. They did not share operational details but said revenge is underway.
Indian officials did not elaborate on the exact nature of the strike.
Residents in Muzaffarabad, a capital of Pakistan, Kashmir, reported hearing jets flying over the air. They said a site in the rural area near Muzaffarabad, once used by Pakistan’s militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, appeared to be targeting the strike.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Army said four other places were also under attack. One is Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, a religious seminary site related to Jaish-e-Mohammad, another Pakistan-based militant group. The other is Kotli, a city in Kashmir managed by Pakistan.
Pakistani military said Indian aircraft did not enter Pakistani airspace for attacks.
Indian troops called their military operation Sindoor, a reference to the red and vermilion red hair worn by Indian women after marriage. It refers to the horrible nature of the terrorist attack two weeks ago, many of which wives saw their husbands being killed in front of them.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh wrote on X: “The victory of Indian mother.”
During the April 22 attack, militants opened fire on tourists in Kashmir, a region managed by India, killing 26 people and injuring more than a dozen.
The Holocaust was one of the worst attacks on Indian civilians in decades, and India quickly suggested Pakistan’s neighbors and masters were involved. The two nuclear-weapon states have fought several wars with Kashmir, the region they share, but each region generally claims.
The Pakistani government has denied its involvement in the attack and India has little evidence to support its allegations. Nevertheless, shortly after the onslaught, India announced a series of punitive measures against Pakistan, including threatening to destroy the flow of the main river system that provides it with water.
In Kashmir, Indian troops continued to hunt down the perpetrators, embarking on a thorough batting and arresting hundreds of people. In the days after the attack, India and Pakistan exchanged small arms along the border several times.
But India’s strike is a reinforcement of conflict that riskes the launch of a full-scale war that may be difficult to contain. The Pakistani government had earlier vowed to respond in kind to any Indian aggression, and both countries had the ability to cause huge damage.
Anupreeta Das and Hari Kumar Contribution report.
