India, Pakistan exchange gunfire in Kashmir after missile strikes kill dozens
Islamabad said the military had been authorised to ‘respond in self-defence’ at a ‘time, place and manner of its choosing’
Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged gunfire overnight in Kashmir, New Delhi said on Thursday, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Islamabad would retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, with days of repeated gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling.
“We will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Sharif said in an address to the nation.
India said it had destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in “focused, measured and non-escalatory” strikes, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir – a charge Pakistan denies.
At least 43 deaths have been reported from both sides of the border following Wednesday’s violence, including children from both nations.
Islamabad said 31 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border.