What we know about India’s strike on Pakistan and Pakistan-assessed Kashmir

Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir in India, India launched a series of strikes at locations in Pakistan and Kashmir assessed by Pakistan.

The Indian Ministry of Defense said that the strikes – called “Operation Sindoor” – were part of an “obligation” to hold those responsible for the attack of 22 April who left 25 Indians and one Nepali National Dead “responsible”.

But Pakistan, which denied every involvement in last month’s attack, has described the strikes as “not provoked”, in which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says that the “horrible act of aggression will not remain unpunished”.

Pakistan’s army says it has shot five Indian planes and a drone. India still has to respond to these claims.

Pakistani authorities say that the strikes have killed eight civilians so far. In the meantime, India says that three civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling in Kashmir, managed by the Indian.

Delhi said in the early hours of Wednesday morning that nine different locations were the target of both Pakistan-Toegestane Kashmir and Pakistan.

It said that these sites were “terrorist infrastructure” – places where attacks were “planned and focused”.

It emphasized that it had not struck Pakistani military facilities and said that the “actions are directed, measured and non-escalating in nature”.

According to Pakistan, three different areas were hit: Muzaffarabad and Kotli in Pakistan-judged Kashmir and Bahawalpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

The Pakistani Minister of Defense Khawaja Asif told GeoTV that the strikes found civil areas, and added that India’s claim is on “focuses on terrorist camps” incorrect.

After weeks of increasing tension between the nuclear armed neighbors, the strikes come over the shootings in the picturesque resort city of Pahalgam.

The attack of April 22 by a group of militants saw 26 people killed, in which survivors said the militants are choosing Hindu men.

It was the worst attack on citizens in the region in two decades and led to widespread anger in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country would hunt the suspects “to the ends of the earth” and that those who had planned and executed “will be punished outside of their imagination”.

However, India has not mentioned any group that suspects that the attack was carried out in Pahalgam and it remains unclear who did it.

But the Indian police have claimed that two of the attackers were Pakistani nationals, with Delhi Pakistan accusing the support of militants – denies an accusation of Islamabad. It says that it has nothing to do with the attacks of April 22.

In the two weeks thereafter, both parties had Tit-for-TAT measures taken against each other-included the expulsion of diplomats, suspending visa and closing border crossings.

But many expected it to escalate to a kind of cross -border strike – as can be seen after the Pulwama attacks, making 40 Indian paramilitarian staff dead in 2019.

Kashmir is fully claimed by India and Pakistan, but only partially managed by each because they were divided after the independence of Great Britain in 1947.

The countries have fought two wars on it.

But more recently were the attacks of militants that brought the two countries on the edge. Indian-managed Kashmir has seen an armed rebellion against Indian domination since 1989, with militants focusing on security forces and citizens.

This was the first major attack on citizens since India withdrew Article 370 That gave Kashmir semi-autonomous status in 2019.

After the decision, the region saw protests, but also witnessed the militance and a huge increase in the number of tourists visiting the region.

In 2016, after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in URI, India launched “surgical strikes” over the Line of Control – the de facto boundary between India and Pakistan – aimed at militant bases.

In 2019, the Pulwama bombing led, which left 40 Indian paramilitarian staff dead, air strikes deep in Balakot – the first such action in Pakistan since 1971 – which caused retaliation attacks and a air dog fight.

Neither of them, but the wider world remains alert to the danger of what could happen if it were. Attempts have been made by different countries and diplomats around the world to prevent the current situation from escalating.

UN chef Antonio Guterres has already called for “maximum restraint”, while US President Donald Trump said he hoped that the fighting “ends very quickly”.