Pakistan’s PM says its response to India ‘avenged the blood of innocent lives’

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the military had given “a befitting response” to India after the worst confrontations in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

“Today, we have given India a befitting response and avenged the blood of innocent lives,” he says in a statement issued by his office, after speaking with all political parties.

Pakistan launched counterattacks against India overnight, saying it targeted multiple bases in India, including a missile storage site in India’s north, in response to prior attacks by the Indian military.

Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh told a briefing that there were “several high-speed missile attacks” on air bases, but “limited damage” to equipment.

Pakistan earlier accused India of targeting three of its bases with missiles — including one in Rawalpindi, some 10 kilometres (six miles) from the capital, Islamabad.

At least 13 civilians were killed in Pakistani Kashmir in 12 hours until noon today, the region’s disaster authority says, as India and Pakistan traded fire after Islamabad’s military action against India in the early hours of the day.

More than 50 people were also injured in the region, the authority says.

Tensions between India and Pakistan, both of whom rule Kashmir in part, have escalated since India struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan on Wednesday.