Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir, administered by India, India launched 'Operation Sindoor', a series of strikes in places in Pakistan and Kashmir administered by Pakistan.
The Ministry of Defense of India said that strikes were part of a “commitment” to hold those responsible for the attack of April 22, which left 25 Indians and a “responsible” national dead.
Also read: Kashmira attacks: Pakistan warns of Indian military actions
In reaction to the strikes, Pakistan denied any participation in the attack last month, describing strikes as “not caused.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the “atrocious act of aggression will not be unpunished.”
Pakistan's army also said he knocked down five Indian planes and a drone. India has not yet responded to these statements.
Pakistan's military spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said at least 26 people died and 46 wounds.
Meanwhile, India said at least seven civilians were killed by Pakistani bombing in Kashmir administered by India.
Where did India hit?
The Indian authorities said in the early hours of Wednesday morning that nine different places had been attacked both in Kashmir and Pakistan administered by Pakistan.
He said that these sites were “terrorist infrastructure”, places where the attacks were “planned and directed.”
He stressed that he had not reached the Pakistani military facilities, saying that “the actions have been focused, measures and of a noctive nature.”
According to Pakistan, three different areas were affected: Muzaffrabad and Kotli in Cashmiro administered by Pakistan, and Bahawalpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
Pakistan's defense minister Khawaja Asif told Geotv that strikes reached civil areas, adding that India's statement to “aim at terrorist camps” is false.
Why did India launch the attack?
Strikes occur after weeks of growing tension between nuclear weapons neighbors on the shooting in the picturesque tourist city of Pahalgam.
The attack of April 22 for a group of militants saw 26 people killed, and the survivors say that the militants were highlighting the Hindu men.
It was the worst attack against civilians in the region in two decades, and caused a generalized anger in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country would hunt the suspects “until the ends of the earth” and that those who planned and took it “will be punished beyond their imagination.”
However, India has not appointed any group that suspected that he carried out the attack in Pahalgam and it is not clear who did it.
But the Indian police claimed that two of the attackers were Pakistani citizens, and Delhi accused Pakistan of supporting the militants, a position of Islamabad denies. He says he has nothing to do with the attacks on April 22.
Why India and Pakistan fight for Kashmir
Kashmira is in full claimed by India and Pakistan, but administered only by each one, since they were divided after the independence of Great Britain in 1947.
Countries have fought two wars for it.
But more recently, they have been attacks by militants that have led the two countries to the edge. Kashmira administered by India has seen an armed insurgency against the Indian government since 1989, with militants aimed at security forces and civilians alike.
This was the first important attack against civilians since India revoked article 370 that gave Kashmir a semi -autonomous status in 2019.
After the decision, the region saw protests, but also witnessed the militancy decreasing and a great increase in the number of tourists visiting the region.
In 2016, after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in URI, India launched “surgical strikes” on the control line, the de facto border between India and Pakistan, aimed at militant bases.
In 2019, pulwama bombardment, which left 40 dead Indian paramilitary people, caused air attacks in Balakot, the first action of this type within Pakistan since 1971, causing fierceness of retaliation and an aerial fight.
Neither of the two spiral, but the widest world remains alert to the danger of what could happen if it did. Several countries and diplomats from all over the world have made attempts to prevent the current situation from increasing.
(BBC)