India-Pakistan tit for tat attacks continue as conflict escalates
Relatives mourning near the body of Amarjeet Singh, 51, killed in Pakistani artillery shelling in in Poonch along the Line of Control, Indian controlled Kashmir, on May 8, 2025. - AP
NEW DELHI: Pakistan has rejected allegations that it was behind a series of reported airstrikes on Indian territory after India's Defence Ministry accused it of launching missile and drone attacks.
The Indian government on Thursday (May 8) accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir and on a military installation in the state of Punjab.
The Integrated Defence Staff headquarters responsible for coordination among the Indian army's branches said on X the threat had been "neutralised" and reported no casualties.
"The Government of Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible allegations propagated by the Indian media, accusing Pakistan of launching attacks on Pathankot, Jaisalmer, and Srinagar," the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad responded in a statement.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also said Pakistan had not targeted any locations in Indian-administered Kashmir or across the international border.
According to Indian media reports, explosions in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir late Thursday caused panic among local people.
India Today reported that a drone had hit the airport of Jammu, where an air force facility is located.
India said it had activated its air defence system.
Men are seen through windowpanes of a residential house damaged by a cross-border shelling in Gingal village near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan, in Indian Kashmir's Baramulla district, on May 9, 2025. - Reuters
"Suspected bombing, shelling or missile strikes," the former police chief of the Union Territory, Shesh Paul Vaid, wrote on X.
India's government had previously stated that it had attacked air defence systems in several locations in Pakistan on Thursday morning, with an air defence system in the megacity of Lahore near the shared border neutralized.
The military added it had responded to Pakistan's attempt to hit military targets in the north and west of India, including 15 cities, with drones and missiles.
However, this was thwarted. There was initially no confirmation of this from Islamabad. -
Pakistan, for its part, said it had shot down 25 Indian drones.
"Pakistan Armed Forces have so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones using both soft kill (technical) and hard kill (weapons-based) countermeasures," the military's media wing ISPR said in a statement.
On Thursday, at least three drones were downed in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, a few kilometres from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Amid the panic, sirens sounded in parts of Islamabad. However, the capital administration said "a few individuals are spreading panic in Islamabad by sounding false sirens."
Tensions between the two nuclear powers have escalated significantly since an attack in the town of Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on April 22 that left 26 people dead.
New Delhi accuses Pakistan of involvement in the attack. Islamabad rejects this.
In response to the attack, the Indian military struck several Pakistani targets in the early hours of Wednesday. According to India, several "terrorist camps" were destroyed in the process.
Pakistan's military on Wednesday night confirmed the death of a civilian from the debris of a downed drone in the southern province of Sindh, although local media reports suggested more casualties occurred.
This brought the death toll from Indian strikes to more than 30 people and over 57 injured, including women, children and four soldiers.
The Indian military reported 13 deaths from Pakistani artillery fire Wednesday night. One soldier was among the dead. - dpa
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