Tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan dramatically spiked Tuesday after India launched multiple airstrikes on several parts of Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled territory.
The Indian military said it struck nine sites where “terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” reported BBC. Pakistan denied the claim, alleging that Indian strikes hit civilian areas and killed two children, according to its military.
India’s embassy to the United States said the strike, dubbed Operation Sindoor, was in response to a terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir on April 22 that left 26 civilians dead. According to India, a few of the terrorists, who are accused of specifically targeting Hindus, were from Pakistan.
The terror attack happened as Vice President JD Vance visited India on a four-day trip, which included a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Following the terror attack, tensions between the longtime rivals escalated, with cross-border small arms fire and the suspension of a river water-sharing treaty.
“India has credible leads, technical inputs, testimony of the survivors and other evidence pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in this attack,” the embassy said in a statement, calling its actions “focused and precise.”
The statement added that India was hopeful Pakistan would take action against the terrorists, but instead “indulged in denial and made allegations of false flag operations against India.”
Despite India stating that its strikes were meant to be non-escalatory by attacking “terror camps” and not Pakistani civilian, economic, or military targets, Pakistan vowed to respond to the “cowardly attack,” and followed up by firing artillery just across the border in India-administered Kashmir, reported BBC.
“The treacherous enemy has launched a cowardly attack on five locations within Pakistan,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement. “This heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished. Pakistan reserves the absolute right to respond decisively to this unprovoked Indian attack — a resolute response is already underway.”
Sharif added that the Pakistani people and its forces “are fully prepared to confront and defeat any threat with our strength and determination.”
Pakistan claimed it shot down two Indian jets and one drone, though India has not confirmed this report, according to BBC.
“The enemy will never be allowed to achieve its malicious aims,” the statement concluded.
President Donald Trump called the strikes “a shame” on Tuesday.
“We just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval [Office],” Trump said. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”
India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval briefed Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who is also serving as U.S. National Security Advisor) on Wednesday about the escalating conflict.
Rubio said he is monitoring the situation and echoed Trump’s statements for the conflict to end quickly, adding that he will continue to “engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.”
A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “very concerned” about the escalation and called for “maximum military restraint,” reported BBC.
