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India said it had “neutralised” Pakistani drone and missile attacks on military targets in the north and west of the country on Thursday, in skirmishes that pushed the nuclear-armed neighbours closer to war.
“Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India,” the Indian defence ministry said in a statement. “These were neutralised”, it added.
The defence ministry also said that Indian forces had “targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan” and knocked out an air defence system in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan’s armed forces spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the country’s air defences shot down 25 Indian drones near several cities, which had killed one civilian and injured four Pakistani soldiers.
He vowed that New Delhi would “pay dearly” for a barrage, which he called “yet another blatant military act of aggression against Pakistan”.
India and Pakistan face their most serious crises since 1999 after India launched air strikes against its neighbour on Wednesday in retaliation for a militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.
New Delhi has linked the attack, which killed 26, to Islamabad, which has denied any connection.
Chaudhry said the Israeli-made drones were downed near at least nine Pakistani cities, including the coastal metropolis of Karachi, which has a population of 20mn, and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home of the army’s general headquarters. “This is a serious, serious provocation,” he said.
Both countries said that the debris of these attacks was being recovered.
“Attacks on cities by military drones have never occurred in the India-Pakistan rivalry,” said Christopher Clary, a professor at the University at Albany in New York. “This is a very serious allegation [by Pakistan] and a sign . . . to show the old rules have been thrown out the window.”
“The new rules have not been written, so we are in for a dangerous period,” he added.
The attacks brought the toll in Pakistan this week to 32 killed and 61 injured. India said Pakistan’s military had “increased” firing over the Line of Control, the de facto border in Kashmir, which both countries claim and control parts of, killing 16 civilians, including women and children, and injuring 59.
International powers, including the US and EU, have urged India and Pakistan to scale down tensions to avoid the conflict spiralling into a nuclear stand-off. US President Donald Trump has also offered to mediate between the sides.
India’s armed forces said on Thursday they had a “commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military”. “[The] Indian response has been in the same domain with [the] same intensity as Pakistan,” it added.
Late on Wednesday, Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar told parliament that Chinese jets were used to shoot down five Indian fighter jets along the border, including French-made Rafale aircraft, without providing evidence.
India’s government has not officially commented on the aircraft Pakistan alleges it destroyed and warned about alleged misinformation coming from Islamabad.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with government officials on Thursday to “review national preparedness . . . in light of recent developments concerning national security”, officials said, including strengthening of civil defence mechanisms and ensuring the security of critical infrastructure.