India-Pakistan war fears: Live updates as Trump reacts to missile strikes raining down on Pakistani ‘terror sites’

India said it attacked nine sites in Pakistani-territory on Wednesday where strikes against it had been planned.

Pakistan’s military spokesperson claimed the strikes killed eight people and injured 35 others.

The offensive occurred amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.

Pakistan said India launched missiles across three locations – Muzaffarabad and Kotli, both in Kashmir, as well as Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

UK politicians have urged restraint amid the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Labour MP Stella Creasy (above) said they were ‘deeply’ concerned by the escalation in violence while former Tory minister Lord Ahmad warned the ‘potential for war tonight is real’.

Lord Ahmad, who served as South Asia minister under the previous Conservative administration, said the missile strikes were an ‘alarming escalation’.

‘The potential of a war tonight is real – we need urgent international engagement to prevent a widening of this conflict which carries serious implications not just for the region but for the wider world,’ he said.

MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana, who sits as an Independent following her suspension from Labour after she voted to back scrapping the two-child benefit cap, accused New Delhi of violating international law.

She said in a post on social media: ‘I condemn the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam – but no conclusive evidence has been presented linking Pakistan.

‘India’s unprovoked strike on Pakistan is a violation of international law. With both being nuclear powers, this is reckless & a grave threat to regional peace.’

South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman told The Associated Press that the early morning missile strikes were some of the highest intensity from India in years and that Pakistan’s response would ‘surely pack a punch as well.’

‘These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other,’ Kugelman said.

‘The escalation risks are real. And they could well increase, and quickly.’

Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan’s military spokesperson, has claimed that four strikes were carried out at a mosque in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur district which killed five Pakistanis.

A mosque in Kotli was targeted in which two people died, while a mosque in Muzaffarabad was also attacked, he added.

Ambulances have been pictured arriving at a hospital in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, on Wednesday following an Indian missile attack in the country.

They are thought to be carrying people injured in the attack, with one image showing a man clutching his arm while being wheeled inside the hospital on a stretcher.

Police say a woman was killed and a girl was wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir when Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged mortar and gunfire at several places along the highly militarized frontier.

A local doctor says the woman was killed in the Mankote area of the Poonch district.

The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

An Indian official says Prime Minister Narendra Modi (above) monitored the operation against Pakistan through the night.

The government official says there were nine targets that were hit ‘successfully.’

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to disclose details

Indian information ministry officials had planned several civil defence ‘mock drills’ to take place on Wednesday, ahead of its attacks earlier this morning.

‘The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked several states to conduct mock drills for effective civil defence’, Kanchan Gupta, a senior advisor from the information ministry, said in a statement earlier this week.

Gupta said this would involve rehearsing an ‘evacuation plan’ and the ‘training of civilians, students, etc., on the civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack’.

Drills would also test air raid warning sirens, prepare for blackouts, and ready vital installations for camouflage.

The Foreign Office said it advised against all travel within 10 kilometres of the India-Pakistan border, 10 miles of the Line of Control and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

A statement said: ‘On the night of 6 May (UK Time), the Indian Ministry of Defence stated it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

‘In response, there are reports of Pakistani artillery fire across the Line of Control.

‘On the night of 6 May (UK Time) Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority indicated that it was closing Pakistan airspace for at least 48 hours. There are reports of flights being diverted. British nationals should contact their airline for up-to-date information.

‘We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. British nationals should stay up to date with our travel advice and follow the advice of local authorities.’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he is ‘monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely’.

He added in a post on X that he hopes the conflict ‘ends quickly’ and both countries can work towards a ‘peaceful resolution’.

The Indian embassy in Washington DC has said its National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly after the strikes.

In a post on X, the embassy also claimed ‘no Pakistani civilian, economic or military targets have been hit’.

Pakistani officials earlier claimed this was not the case and civilians including women and children had been targeted.

The US is closely monitoring developments after India launched missile attacks on several locations in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled territory.

A State Department spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the reports, however we have no assessment to offer at this time. This remains an evolving situation, and we are closely monitoring developments.’

India is an important U.S. partner for Washington at a time when it is aiming to counter China’s rising influence.

Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.

In recent days, Washington urged the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors to work with each other to de-escalate tensions and arrive at a ‘responsible solution.’

Earlier we reported that Pakistan had shot down two Indian jets and one drone.

Pakistan Information Minister Tarar Attaullah has now claimed the number of jets shots down has risen to three.

A Pakistan military spokesperson has said eight people had been killed, 35 had been injured and two are missing.

They added that the strikes had made 24 impacts across six locations, using a number of different weapons.

A video posted to X supposedly shows a Pakistani fighter jet being shot down over the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Footage shows a ball of light falling from the sky and hitting the ground.

Ahmed Sharif, a spokesperson for the Pakistani military, has claimed seven people have died – including at least two children – following strikes launched from India.

He told the BBC the strikes had hit multiple locations and were a ‘flagrant violation of international law’.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister has claimed India ‘targeted’ members of the ‘civilian population’ in Wednesday’s missile strikes.

Ishaq Dar, who is also the country’s Foreign Minister, claimed the attacks had injured ‘civilians including women and children’.

In Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir (pictured above), resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions and that some people were wounded in the attack.

People were seen running in panic and authorities immediately cut the power, leading to a blackout.

Waqar Noor, the region’s interior minister, said authorities have declared an emergency in the region’s hospitals.

Pakistan Information Minister Tarar Attaullah has claimed the country has ‘the right to self-defence’.

He also told Sky News ‘India has no evidence to link Pakistan’ to the attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.

The Pakistan Defence has claimed the country shot down two Indian planes and one drone in retaliation to the strikes, Rueters has reported.

Pakistan state media, PTV News, also reported two aircraft had been shot down, with one crashing in Bhatunda and another in Akhnoor.

Indian TV channels supposedly showed video of explosions, fire, large plumes of smoke in the night sky and people fleeing in several places in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir.

Witnesses and one police officer at two sites on the frontier in Indian Kashmir said they heard loud explosions and intense artillery shelling as well as jets in the air.

A Pakistani military spokesman told broadcaster Geo that sites struck by India included two mosques.

They added there had been at least three deaths and 12 people injured.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Geo that all sites targeted by India were civilian and not militant camps.

He said India fired missiles from its own airspace and India’s claim of targeting ‘camps of terrorists is false’.

India’s latest action adds to a long list of military conflicts between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Here is a look at some of the key clashes:

1947: FIRST WAR OVER KASHMIR

Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan were born in August 1947 after the British ceded colonial control of the subcontinent, and months later the two new countries were at war for control over the scenic Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

India claimed Kashmir as its then Hindu ruler acceded to Delhi, while Pakistan cited popular support from the region’s Muslim majority as a basis for its claim.

Fighting raged for months, until the United Nations intervened to establish a ceasefire line in 1949, leaving both countries with control of a part of the territory. Both still claim the entire region.

1965: SECOND WAR OVER KASHMIR

Still seeking control over Kashmir, Pakistani forces crossed into India’s portion of the disputed region, in response to which India launched a military incursion across the boundary.

The fighting spread outside Kashmir into many settled boundary areas, seeing pitched battles involving both ground and air forces, and some of the biggest tank battles in history.

1971: WAR OVER EAST PAKISTAN

The neighbours fought their third war over Pakistan’s eastern wing, where regional groups were seeking independence from the federal government.

Thousands of people died in the conflict, which ended in India helping the region secede, creating the independent country Bangladesh.

The countries faced off in the high-altitude region of Kargil after Pakistani troops infiltrated Indian-administered Kashmir. It was the first clash since both officially gained nuclear weapons capability, raising the risks of a catastrophic war.

Both sides suffered hundreds of casualties before Indian forces reclaimed the territory, and international intervention stopped the fighting.

India said it conducted “surgical strikes” on alleged Islamist militant launchpads in Pakistani territory after gunmen stormed an Indian military base in Kashmir’s Uri region.

Islamabad said there had been no Indian incursion into its territory and there was no retaliation by Pakistani forces.

India conducted air strikes on what it said was a militant training camp near the Pakistani town of Balakot in response to a suicide car bombing in Kashmir’s Pulwama area.

Pakistan, which said the planes had bombed an empty hillside and not a camp, launched a retaliatory incursion into Indian airspace that led to a dogfight between the two air forces, leading to the capture of an Indian pilot.

The situation cooled after he was released days later.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister has written on X in the wake of the Inidian attacks, claiming they are an ‘act of war’.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is ‘very concerned’ about Indian military operations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

‘The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries,’ the spokesperson said.

‘The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.’

The Indian Army’s official account on X has just posted the following after attacking several sites in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled territory.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday afternoon that the recent Indian strikes against targets in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir were a ‘shame’.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had just heard about the intensification of hostilities that had occurred in recent hours.

Indian said in a statement the attacks were launched strikes on ‘terrorist infrastructure’ and were’ intended to be ‘non-escalatory in nature’.

‘A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched “OPERATION SINDOOR”, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,’ the statement said.

‘Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,’ it added.