In Pictures
Key images as India launches military attack and Pakistan hits back
The escalation comes on the heels of April’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.
India has fired missiles into several locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least 26 people, including a child, according to Pakistani officials.
Retaliatory Pakistani shelling killed at least 10 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, Indian officials said.
India said the attacks on Wednesday targeted infrastructure used by fighters linked to an attack last on tourists in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir, but Pakistan said mosques and civilians were struck.
Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the April 22 attack in which gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, at a popular meadow in the disputed territory of Kashmir, in some cases killing men before their wives’ eyes.
India has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, something the latter has denied.
Kashmir, parts of which are administered by both countries, has been at the centre of tensions for decades with two wars fought over it.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s air attacks and said his country would retaliate.
“Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given,” Sharif said.
The country’s National Security Committee met on Wednesday morning, and Pakistan summoned India’s charge d’affaires to lodge a protest.
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security.
