From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Pakistan says 26 killed in Indian strikes on alleged terror camps, vows to ‘settle score’ as jets downed
Pakistan says 26 civilians were killed in strikes carried out by India and in firing along the border, while India says at least eight were killed by Pakistani shelling, in the most serious fighting in decades to break out between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India says it carried out “precision strikes at terrorist camps” at nine sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in Punjab state, days after it blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on the Indian-run side of the disputed region.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says Islamabad struck back and downed five “enemy aircraft.”
“The retaliation has already started,” Asif tells AFP. “We won’t take long to settle the score.”
An Indian senior security source says three Indian fighter jets crashed on Wednesday on home territory without giving a cause.
Wreckage of an Indian fighter jet is seen by an AFP photographer at Wuyan — on the Indian controlled side of Kashmir.
Debris from the jet fell on a school and a mosque compound, according to Srinagar police and residents. Firefighters struggled for hours to douse the resulting fires.
“There was a huge fire in the sky. Then we heard several blasts also,” says Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a Wuyan resident.
Another aircraft is seen wrecked in an open field in Bhardha Kalan village near southern Akhnoor town, close to the Line of Control in Indian-controlled Kashmir shortly after the strikes.
Village resident Sachin Kumar tells The Associated Press he heard massive blasts followed by a huge ball of fire.
Kumar says he and and several other villagers rushed to the scene and found two pilots with injuries who were later taken away by the Indian army.
The Times of Israel Community.