Kashmir tensions: India strikes at Pakistan as Islamabad vows retaliation
At least 26 people killed in ‘Operation Sindoor’ as the US urged New Delhi and Islamabad to ‘avoid escalation’
New Delhi briefed US President Donald Trump’s top national security and foreign policy adviser within hours of firing missiles into Pakistani territory early on Wednesday, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated and Islamabad warned that a response was “already under way”.
“Shortly after the strikes” India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke with US National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and “briefed him on the actions taken”, the Indian embassy in Washington said in a statement, without providing further details.
The US State Department later said that Rubio spoke with national security advisers of India and Pakistan and “urged both to keep lines of communication open and avoid escalation”.
The Indian defence ministry early on Wednesday announced that it conducted “precision strikes at terrorist camps” at nine locations in the neighbouring nation and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where “terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.
But Islamabad said six Pakistani sites were targeted, and that none of them were militant camps.
At least 26 civilians were killed and 46 injured in the strikes that India called “Operation Sindoor”, a Pakistan military spokesperson said. He added that a hydropower plant in Pakistan Kashmir was also targeted, damaging a dam structure.
Indian forces attacked facilities linked to Islamist militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, two Indian military spokespeople told a briefing in New Delhi.