Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged gunfire over several sections of their contested border after disputed claims about an airstrike in a Pakistan-controlled sector of Kashmir.
New Delhi said its warplanes had killed “a very large number” of fighters when they struck a militant training camp on Tuesday morning, but Islamabad said the airstrike caused no deaths.
The overnight raid was the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals since a deadly militant attack in the disputed Kashmir region earlier this month killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack but has vowed to respond to any Indian military operation against it.
The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility. The bomber, who made a video before the attack, was a resident of Indian Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said the Indian “aircrafts” crossed into the Muzafarabad sector of Kashmir, which is split between the two countries but claimed by each in its entirety.
He said Pakistan scrambled fighters and the Indian jets “released payload in haste” near Balakot, on the edge of Pakistani-ruled Kashmir.
In a tweet, Pakistan’s governing Tehreek-e-Insaf party said: ”We realise it’s election year, and a desperation across the border. Fact of the matter is, Indian jets were forced to retreat in haste by Pakistan army patrols and dumped fuel, which in their scramble they thought was a bomb.”
India’s foreign secretary, Vijay Gokhale, told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday that Indian fighter aircraft targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in a pre-emptive strike after intelligence indicated another attack was being planned.
“Acting on intelligence, India early today struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot,” he said. “In this operation a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and Jehadis being trained were eliminated.”
Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC), comprising top officials including prime minister Imran Khan and army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement that it "strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties".
NSC said Mr Khan will "engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy". It also warned that "Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing" to Indian aggression.
Indian officials said the raid destroyed a training camp of Jaish-e- Mohammed, the militant group behind a suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 members of a paramilitary police force on 14 February. India's foreign secretary said "a very large number of JEM terrorists" had been eliminated in what was the first Indian air strike on Pakistani territory since 1971.
A resident, who did not want to give his name, said there was a nearby madrasa run by Jaish, though most villagers were guarded talking about their militant neighbours.
"There is this madrasa on the hilltop. The Jaish-e-Mohammed runs it," he said.
Another person, who also declined to give his name said the militants had had a presence in the area for years.
"I belong to that area. I know for sure that there has been a training camp. It used to be there. I know Jaish people ran it," he said.
"This camp was turned into a madrasa several years ago, but no one would still be allowed to get close to this infrastructure. There are scores of students in the madrasa at any given time," he said.
Set in a wooded, hilly area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the way to the scenic Kaghan valley, some 40 kilometres from the de facto border with India, Balakot was of many towns that was devastated by as massive earthquake in 2005.
From what villagers could see, the Indian attack had missed its target as the bombs dropped exploded about a kilometre away from the madrasa.
Mohammad Ajmal, a 25 year-old villager near Jaba Top, where the attack took place, said he had heard four loud bangs in succession just before 3.00am.
"We couldn't tell what had happened. It was only in the morning that we figured out it was an attack," he told Reuters after visiting the site, in a wooded hilltop area.
"We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen."
Fida Hussain Shah, a 46 year-old farmer, said he and other villagers had found pieces of Indian ordnance that had splintered pine trees on the hill but the only casualty was a man sleeping in his house when shrapnel broke the windows.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that it was "conducive to peace and stability in South Asian for the two sides to maintain a good relationship and good communication".
Mr Lu says China hopes "both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and take actions that will help stabilize the situation in the region and help to improve mutual relations".
Referring to India's claim that its airstrike targeted terrorists, Lu said combatting terrorism "is a global issue and a global challenge. It requires cooperation between countries".
India says it struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group that claimed to have carried out the Feb. 14 suicide bomb attack on Indian troops in Kashmir.
In 2017, China joined several nations to declare the Pakistan-based group and another one, Lashkar-e-Taiba, as terrorist organizations, a move praised by India and the U.S. However, Beijing has blocked India's attempts to have Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Azhar Masood listed as a terrorist by the United Nations.
Mr Modi, commenting on the early Tuesday strike, says that "today is a day to pay homage to India's brave hearts", — an apparent reference to 40 Indian soldiers killed in 14 February suicide bombing in India-controlled Kashmir.
Mr Modi spoke to a rally of former soldiers in the northern state of Rajasthan.
He said: "I vow that I will not let the country bow down."
The strike comes as India pressed on with its crackdown against Kashmiri leaders and activists seeking the end of Indian rule over its section of the divided territory. So far, India has arrested 400 in the campaign.
The crackdown has mainly targeted Jama'at-e-Islami, Kashmir's largest religious-political group that also espouses the right to self-determination for the Himalayan region.
"India’s Foreign Secretary has stated that India has now conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan.
"Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory.
"These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict.
"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully."
Mr Khan's remark came after a meeting of the country's National Security Committee on Tuesday, hours after Pakistan said Indian aircraft dropped bombs on a deserted wooded area causing no casualties.
India, however, said it killed a "very large number" of militants.
Mr Khan said that "once again, the Indian government has resorted to a self- serving, reckless and fictitious claim" and added that the statements from India were "for domestic consumption" in the run-up to elections.
He said India risks "putting regional peace and stability at grave risk" and summoned a meeting of the Parliament for Wednesday.
According to the statement, Mr Khan said: "India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing."
The reaction may be a sign that support for prime minister Narendra Modi is surging months before a general election, pollsters said.
India said air force jets hit a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant group that claimed credit for a 14 February suicide bombing attack that killed Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir, a mountainous region also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan.
"A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists" were killed, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
India's opposition leaders, many of whom have banded together against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF), though they stopped short of praising Narendra Modi.
"I salute the pilots of the IAF," Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress, said in a tweet.
In a village 100 metres from the Line of Control (LoC) that acts as the de facto border with Pakistan, men gathered around a bunker for security forces that is under construction and shouted slogans hailing India.
"We will celebrate tonight," one said, "We have lost so many of our villagers to Pakistani firing."
Lt Col Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, says Pakistani troops are carrying out an "unprovoked" violation of the 2003 cease-fire along the so-called Line of Control by firing on Tuesday evening at the Nowshera, Poonch and Akhnoor sectors.
Mr Anand said Indian soldiers are "strongly and befittingly" responding to the multiple Pakistani attacks along the highly militarized defacto frontier.
Pakistan's army did not immediately comment on India's claim. Both countries regularly accuse one another of initiating skirmishes.
Shakir Ahmed, a resident of Poonch in Indian-controlled Kashmir, said people were hearing loud sounds of shelling. He says "people are afraid, it's getting dark. We pray it doesn't escalate into war".
Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah told The Associated Press he had sent teams to the area where the Indian bombs reportedly hit, which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area.
“There are no casualties, there are no damages on the ground because of the dropping of the bombs,” he said.
The 14 February attack in Indian-ruled Kashmir was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the 1989 insurgency in Kashmir and came as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is in the middle of a re-election campaign.
Insurgents have been demanding either outright independence or union with Pakistan. India routinely accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants who cross the mountainous Himalayan region. In the last year an increasingly bloody crackdown on insurgents in Indian-ruled Kashmir has escalated tensions in the troubled region.
Kashmir has been the cause of two previous wars between the uneasy neighbours. They fought a third war in 1979 over East Pakistan, which gained its independence with the help of India and became Bangladesh.
Pakistan has outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed and seized its properties in south Punjab’s Bawahalpur area, including religious schools and mosques. India has demanded Jaish-e-Mohammad’s leader, Azhar Masood, be listed as a terrorist by the United Nations, but has been stymied by China.
Additional reporting by agencies
