Pakistan says eight killed in Indian strikes as tensions soar
Eight people have been killed and 33 others injured in Indian attacks on Pakistani targets, the Pakistani military said early on Wednesday.
India launched missile strikes from air and surface on at least six locations inside Pakistan, claiming to target the hideouts of militant groups behind a late April attack in the disputed region of Kashmir in which at least 26 civilians were killed.
Pakistani military spokesman Major General Sharif Chaudhry said 24 missiles targeted six locations, mostly mosques and associated residential quarters, killing eight people and wounding 33. Another two people were missing, he said.
The Foreign Ministry did not give an exact number of victims, but said that women and children were among them. Previously, intelligence sources had reported that a child had been killed after missiles hit a mosque in the city of Bahwalpur in eastern Pakistan's Punjab.
Information Minister Atta Tarar said Pakistani missiles had shot down five Indian fighter jets and an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Bahawalpur is said to be the town where the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, which India had accused of being behind several deadly cross-border attacks, is based.
A small town near the eastern city of Lahore was also hit. Another anti-India militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, is allegedly based there.
India's strikes also targeted the city of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and a small town called Kotli in the same region, the military said.
India's Defence Ministry said in a statement in the early hours of Wednesday that at least nine sites were targeted in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir from "where terrorist attacks against India have been planned."
The targets are "terrorist infrastructure," the ministry said in a statement.
"Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature," the statement said. "No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted."
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country reserved the right to retaliate for the "cowardly" attack.
Pakistani military sources told dpa they had started targeting military infrastructure on the Indian side of Kashmir.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have escalated since April 22, when at least 26 people were killed in a militant attack on a group of tourists in the town of Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir.
New Delhi pointed the finger at Islamabad, accusing it of supporting the militants. Pakistan denied having any role and offered to hold an independent investigation.
The conflict started hours after global bodies, including the United Nations and major world powers, urged the nuclear-armed rivals to exercise maximum restraint and avoid a direct conflict.
The South Asian nations have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 and pulled back from the brink of a fourth one over contested Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan valley divided in parts between the two countries.
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The federal power ministry, as well as energy and water authorities in Maharashtra state, where Solapur is located, did not respond to queries. Delhi attempted to reduce its reliance on coal before reversing track after the COVID pandemic. It has invested heavily in renewable energy sources like solar and hydro, but thirsty thermal power will still be dominant for the coming decades. India's former top energy bureaucrat Ram Vinay Shahi said ready access to power was strategically important for the country, whose per-capita power consumption is far lower than its regional rival China. "The only energy resource we have in the country is coal," he said. "Between water and coal, preference is given to coal." 'NOTHING' IN SOLAPUR? Solapur resident Rajani Thoke plans her life around water in high summer. On days with supply, "I do not focus on anything other than storing water, washing clothes and such work," said the mother of two, who strictly polices her family's water use. Sushilkumar Shinde, the federal power minister who approved the Solapur plant in 2008, when the area had already been classified "water scarce," told Reuters he helped NTPC procure the land by negotiating payments to locals. The member of the opposition Congress party, who won election to retain Solapur's parliamentary seat a year after the plant's approval, defended the operation on grounds of NTPC's sizable investment. The $1.34 billion plant generated thousands of jobs during its construction and now provides part-time employment to about 2,500 locals. "I made sure farmers got good money for the land NTPC acquired," he said, adding that mismanagement by local authorities was to blame for water shortages. Solapur municipal official Sachin Ombase acknowledged that water distribution infrastructure had not kept up with population growth, but said that authorities were trying to address the problem. Shinde said "there was nothing" in Solapur in 2008 and that residents who received land payments had no reason to oppose the plant. Researcher Shripad Dharmadhikary, who founded environment advocacy group Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, said local politicians often supported splashy infrastructure projects to boost their popularity. Any "problems come up much later," he said. Even before the Solapur plant started operating, there were signs of the trouble to come. The first of its two units was supposed to start generating power by the middle of 2016, but it was delayed by more than 12 months because of years of severe water shortages, according to a 2020 regulatory filing. The absence of nearby water resources meant the station ended up drawing on water from a reservoir about 120 km away. Such distances can sharply increase costs and the risk of water theft, said Dharmadhikary and two plant sources. As of May 2023, the station is among India's least water-efficient, according to the latest available federal records. It also has among the lowest capacity utilization rates of coal-fired plants, according to data from government think-tank NITI Aayog. NTPC said its data indicates the Solapur plant has an efficiency ratio in line with the country's norms. Indian stations typically consume twice as much water as their global counterparts, according to the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment think-tank. Solapur plant officials told reporters in March that capacity utilization will improve with increasing demand, indicating that water consumption could surge in the future. A forthcoming survey on water use in Solapur led by state groundwater authorities and reviewed by Reuters showed that irrigation demand in the district outstrips supply by a third. Dharmes Waghmore owns farmland a few miles from the plant and said that developing it would provide more financial security than his current casual work. But he said borrowing money to develop the land by drilling a bore well is too risky: "What if there's no water?" Kuladeep Jangam, a top local official, said authorities were struggling to draw businesses to Solapur. The lack of "water neutralizes all other pull factors," he said. THIRST FOR WATER Since 2014, India has lost 60.33 billion units of coal-power generation across the country - equivalent to 19 days of coal-power supply at June 2025 levels - because water shortages force plants to suspend generation, according to federal data. Among the facilities that have struggled with shortages is the 2,920 MW Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station, one of India's largest. Located about 500 km northeast of Solapur but also in a water-stressed area, the plant shuts several of its units for months at a time when the monsoon delivers less rain than usual, according to NITI Aayog data. Despite the challenges, the plant is considering adding 800 MW of new capacity, according to the power ministry list seen by Reuters and half a dozen sources at Mahagenco, which operates the station. The document indicates the plant hasn't identified a water source for the expansion, though it has already sourced its coal. State-owned Mahagenco did not respond to Reuters' questions. The plant's thirst for water has previously led to tensions with residents of nearby Chandrapur city. Locals protested the station during a 2017 drought, prompting officials such as local lawmaker Sudhir Mungantiwar to order it to divert water to homes. Mungantiwar, however, says he supports the expansion of the plant, which he hopes will lead to it retiring water-inefficient older units. But the station has already delayed a plan to decommission two polluting and water-guzzling power units with a capacity of 420 MW by about seven years, citing instructions from the federal government, the company sources said. The Indian government asked power companies not to retire old thermal plants until the end of the decade due to a surge in demand following the pandemic, Reuters has reported. Chandrapur resident Anjali, who goes by one name, said she is resigned to visiting a tap installed by the station near one of its gates for drinking water. "We're poor, we make do with whatever we can get," she said. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
