Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Explosions were reported across the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir late on Thursday, plunging the city into a blackout. India’s military claimed it intercepted a Pakistani drone and missile attack targeting three military bases in Jammu and Udhampur in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pathankot in India’s Punjab district.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, denied his country was responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. “We will not strike and then deny,” Asif told the BBC on Thursday, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack.
Asif warned, however, of a “vivid and clear possibility” that Pakistan’s “confrontation will expand” with India. Earlier on Thursday he said Pakistani retaliation against Indian attacks “is increasingly becoming certain now” after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.
Pakistan’s information minister also pushed back on reports that Pakistan attacked Indian-administered Kashmir. In a post on X on Thursday evening, Attaullah Tarar wrote: “Pakistan has not targeted any locations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, or across international border, so far. Neither has any loss been incurred by PAF.”
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, defended his nation’s recent actions and did not rule out further Indian military action. “We have always played the role of a responsible nation,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson accused India of “yet another blatant military act of aggression” in sending dozens of drones overnight over major cities including Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s military has its headquarters. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan’s air defence systems had brought down 25 drones, and a confrontation with another airborne Indian device had left four Pakistani soldiers injured.
India alleged that Pakistan had attempted to launch drones and missiles at 15 military targets in its north and west, including in the cities of Amritsar, Srinagar and Chandigarh. It said its air defence systems stopped all the attacks. Pakistan denied the allegations it had launched any strikes into India.
A senior Pakistani security official told the Guardian that Pakistan had not yet begun its offensive retaliation against India for the missile and drone attacks, but was clear that action would now be taken. “We have not fired any missiles or drone attacks inside India or any military installations,” said the official.
Pakistan’s information minister has also pushed back on reports that Pakistan attacked Indian-administered Kashmir.
In a post on X on Thursday evening, Attaullah Tarar wrote:
Pakistan has not targeted any locations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, or across international border, so far. Neither has any loss been incurred by PAF.”
Tarar went on to accuse Indian media of “spreading disinformation either to create to craft a (fake) notion of success before publicly accepting their embarrassing losses during their unprovoked aggression on night of 6/7 May 2025."
He added:
“We have only given defensive response so far! International community may take note.”
Earlier today, Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Asif told the BBC that Pakistan is not responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, saying:
“We deny it, we have not mounted anything so far.”
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in New Delhi and Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad:
India claimed to have thwarted retaliatory missile and drone strikes launched by Pakistan on Thursday evening, which attempted to hit sites in Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Residents in Jammu, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, reported missiles and drones over the city and the noise of explosions, amid a city-wide blackout.
The Indian army said its air defence systems had intercepted eight missiles fired by Pakistan that had attempted to target military stations in Jammu and the wider Indian-administered Kashmir region.
According to India, there were also attempts by Pakistan to target its Pathankot airbase in Punjab, which is less than 20 miles from the volatile shared border, and it came under heavy artillery fire from Pakistan forces. Locals living in the border cities of Jaisalmer and Bikaner also reported missiles flying overhead and the sound of shelling.
A statement by the Indian army said it had “neutralised” all the threats from Pakistan with missiles and drones. “No losses,” it said.
For the full story, click here:
At least 48 people have been killed in India and Pakistan after the two nuclear powers launched airstrikes against each other on Wednesday.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse, 50-year old Safeer Ahmad Awan in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said that his daughter was injured by shrapnel.
“A missile struck the mosque nearby, and a piece of shrapnel from the blast pierced my daughter’s chest… It was only when her clothes were soaked in blood that we discovered the injury,” he said of his 15-year old daughter.
Meanwhile, in Poonch, a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, 29-year old Madasar Choudhary said his sister saw two children killed.
“She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside… But shrapnel hit the children - and they eventually died,” Choudhary said.
Here are some images coming through the newswires from India and Pakistan:
Updated
Meta has blocked a major Muslim Instagram page in India amid a rising conflict between India and Pakistan.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said on Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.
Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim – a page with 6.7 million followers – were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers.
“I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account’s founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship.”
Meta declined to comment. A spokesperson for the tech giant directed Agence France-Presse to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law”.
For the full story, click here:
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 11.30pm in Islamabad and midnight in New Delhi. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Explosions were reported across the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir late on Thursday, plunging the city into a blackout. India’s military claimed it intercepted a Pakistani drone and missile attack targeting three military bases in Jammu and Udhampur in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pathankot in India’s Punjab district.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, denied his country was responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. “We will not strike and then deny,” Asif told the BBC on Thursday, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack. Pakistani security sources said India’s claims were aimed at creating a “misleading narrative” that Pakistan is carrying out strikes in India.
Asif warned, however, of a “vivid and clear possibility” that Pakistan’s “confrontation will expand” with India. Earlier on Thursday he said Pakistani retaliation against Indian attacks “is increasingly becoming certain now” after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, defended his nation’s recent actions and did not rule out further Indian military action. “We have always played the role of a responsible nation,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “If anyone tries to take advantage of our patience, then they will have to be fully prepared to face action just like yesterday.”
Pakistan and India accused each other of overnight drone and missile attacks, marking a stark escalation of the conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations after Indian missile strikes on Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday killed 31 people.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson accused India of “yet another blatant military act of aggression” in sending dozens of drones overnight over major cities including Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s military has its headquarters. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan’s air defence systems had brought down 25 drones, and a confrontation with another airborne Indian device had left four Pakistani soldiers injured. He said a civilian in the Miano area of Sindh died in an incident involving a drone.
India alleged that Pakistan had attempted to launch drones and missiles at 15 military targets in its north and west, including in the cities of Amritsar, Srinagar and Chandigarh. It said its air defence systems stopped all the attacks. Pakistan denied the allegations it had launched any strikes into India.
A senior Pakistani security official told the Guardian that Pakistan had not yet begun its offensive retaliation against India for the missile and drone attacks, but was clear that action would now be taken. “We have not fired any missiles or drone attacks inside India or any military installations,” said the official. “This is fake news from Indian authorities. The offensive response will come now.”
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation” as he held separate calls with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Thursday.
Updated
Pakistan denies attack on Indian-administered Kashmir
Here’s more from Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, after reports of explosions in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Asif has denied Pakistan is responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. He told the BBC:
We deny it, we have not mounted anything so far.
“We will not strike and then deny,” Asif said, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has warned that escalation is “imminent” as he blamed India for continuing its “aggression”.
Asif told Al Jazeera:
I have no doubt in my mind now that escalation is imminent because of the continuation of aggression from the Indian side, both on the ground and by sending drones today all over Pakistan.
Before that, they attacked us with almost 78 planes … and five planes were downed by our air force. So this has been going on for the last three to four days.
“There is a very vivid and clear possibility that this confrontation will expand,” he added.
As we reported, Asif said earlier on Thursday that Pakistani retaliation against Indian attacks “is increasingly becoming certain now”, adding:
I will still refrain from saying it is 100%. But the situation has become very difficult. We have to respond.
Updated
Here is an image from the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir, where a blackout is in place following earlier reports of explosions and sirens.
Indian military says Pakistan launched missile and drone attacks on three military bases
The Indian armed forces said it neutralised missile and drone attacks by Pakistan on military stations in Jammu and Udhampur in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pathankot in India’s Punjab district.
India’s defence unit said in a post on X:
Military Stations of Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur in proximity to the International Boundary, in Jammu & Kashmir targeted by Pakistan using missiles and drones.
Protesters are expected to gather in central London this week to demonstrate against a potential war between India and Pakistan.
The South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) announced an “emergency peace demonstration” will take place in Parliament Square on Saturday to “say no to war in the region and stand in solidarity with the Kashmiri people both sides of the border bearing the brunt of the violence”.
A Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson said in response to the protest announcement:
Now more than ever, it’s vital that communities come together to build bridges, not barriers, and work towards a just and lasting peace in the region.
The Metropolitan police said they would be engaging with organisers and would deploy officers if necessary, PA media reports.
Updated
We reported earlier that there were reports of explosions, blackouts and sirens in the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Indian military sources told Reuters they suspected a Pakistani drone attack across the region, with several parts of Jammu and the surrounding towns of Akhnoor, Samba and Kathua affected. An Indian official told the news agency:
Our army installations are under attack, it is happening in five districts of Jammu [region].
Pakistani security sources have described reports of attacks in Jammu as “fabricated, baseless and a deliberate attempt to mislead”, Geo News reports.
They told the Pakistani news outlet that the claims were aimed at creating a “misleading narrative” that Pakistan is carrying out strikes in India. They said:
These fake reports are designed to justify India’s ongoing aggression against Pakistan by creating a false pretext … There is no truth to these fabricated claims.
Updated
US urges 'immediate de-escalation' between India and Pakistan
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation” as he held separate calls with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Thursday.
A readout of the call between Rubio and Jaishankar by the US state department reads:
The Secretary emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation. He expressed US support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications.
Rubio “reiterated his condolences for the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism,” the readout says.
A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing US officials.
A US official told the news agency that there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets, bringing down at least two.
Another official said at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft.
India has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes.
A blackout is affecting Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir amid reports of multiple explosions.
Blackouts are also affecting the cities of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar in the Punjab state, the Hindustan Times reports.
Explosions reported in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir
Reports are coming in of multiple blasts and sirens heard in the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
A security source told Agence France-Presse that there were explosions at an airport in Jammu.
A witness told Reuters they saw red flashes and projectiles in the night sky above the city.
Residents told the Associated Press that they heard explosions and sirens, while local news channels reported suspected drones flying overhead in the city.
Shesh Paul Vaid, the region’s former director-general of police, said the city was witnessing a complete blackout after loud explosions.
“Bombing, shelling, or missile strikes suspected,” he wrote on social media.
Updated
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, called for “continued alertness” and “clear communication” during a meeting with government ministers on Thursday.
Modi reaffirmed his government’s commitment to national security and operational preparedness during the high-level meeting, the Hindustan Times reported.
They marked his first comments since the recent escalation in hostilities between India and Pakistan.
The meeting also covered issues including the strengthening of civil defence mechanisms, efforts to counter misinformation and fake news, and ensuring the security of critical infrastructure, according to the Indian prime minister’s office.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, called Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, on Thursday and stressed the need for India and Pakistan to work closely to de-escalate their conflict, Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Updated
Flights remained suspended at more than two dozen airports across northern and western regions in India, according to travel advisories by multiple airlines.
Pakistan resumed flights nationwide after a suspension at four airports, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Here is another image from Uri, in the India-controlled portion of Kashmir, where it appears that shelling from Pakistan has destroyed residential buildings.
Reuters is carrying the quote from Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif now, reporting that he said Pakistani retaliation “is increasingly becoming certain now. I will still refrain from saying it is 100%. But the situation has become very difficult. We have to respond.”
India’s ministry of information and broadcasting has issued a notice instructing that over-the-top media services, i.e. those that digitally distribute content to users directly over the internet, must remove content that originates from Pakistan.
In a statement the ministry said:
In the interest of national security, all OTT platforms, media streaming platforms and intermediaries operating in India are advised to discontinue the web-series, films, songs, podcasts and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription based model or otherwise, having its origins in Pakistan with immediate effect.
Advisory on content originating from Pakistan
— Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) May 8, 2025
In light of the Pahalgam terror attack, national security takes precedence. OTT platforms are hereby mandated to remove all content originating from Pakistan.#OperationSindoor #IndiaFightsPropaganda pic.twitter.com/fDBMWqLjBX
The Pakistan Aviation Authority has announced that operations at Karachi airport will be suspended until midnight, Reuters reports. It has just gone past 6pm in Karachi.
Reuters is also carrying comments from India’s foreign secretary, who has said that any further escalation would be escalation by Pakistan, and would be responded to. Pakistan would, he said, be responsible for the consequences if India infrastructure was targeted.
Pakistan defence minister: drone incursion makes attack on India 'increasingly certain'
Pakistan’s defence minister has told Reuters that it is “increasingly certain” that Pakistan will attack India after it claimed Indian drones had staged incursions into Pakistan.
In comments reported by the news agency, Khawaja Asif said that the US had been leading international efforts to de-escalate the situation, but there was hardly any space left to de-escalate, and the conflict was heading down a blind alley. Gulf nations were also involved in de-escaltion efforts, he said.
He denied Indian claims to have damaged Pakistan’s air defences in Lahore, and said there had been no damage to Pakistan’s military sites from drones. He said that any retaliation would focus on military sites in India.
Pakistan and India have accused each other of overnight drone and missile attacks, with Delhi claiming to have thwarted strikes on more than a dozen cities and Islamabad claiming to have shot down 25 Indian drones.
Indian missile strikes on Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday killed 31 people. Pakistan’s military spokesperson Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry earlier said that a confrontation with an airborne Indian device had left four Pakistani soldiers injured, and that one civilian had been killed in an incident involving a drone.
India alleged that Pakistan had attempted to launch drones and missiles at a number of military targets in its north and west, including in the cities of Amritsar, Srinagar and Chandigarh. It said its air defence systems stopped all the attacks.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated after more than two dozen tourists – mostly Indian Hindus – were shot dead in an attack by militants in Pahalgam in Indian-controlled Kashmir on 22 April.
Control of Kashmir, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been disputed since India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947.
Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders: the “line of control”, based on a ceasefire border established after their 1947-48 war. India and Pakistan have gone to war twice since over Kashmir, most recently in 1999.
Anti-Indian protests have continued in some places in Pakistan. In Multan an effigy of India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was burned, and in Chaman an Indian flag was trampled underfoot.
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, has defended his nation’s recent actions in a statement, saying “We have always played the role of a responsible nation”. He did not rule out further Indian military action.
He said “We have always been in favour of resolving problems through dialogue. But this does not mean that anyone should take unfair advantage of our patience. If anyone tries to take advantage of our patience, then they will have to be fully prepared to face action just like yesterday. We are prepared for such a responsible response in the future as well.
Reuters has a quick snap to say that Pakistan’s foreign minister has told the news agency that the India-Pakistan hotline is working, and there has been contact between the offices of the respective national security advisers.
More details soon …
India’s exterior minister has today been hosting Iran’s foreign minister. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar posted on social media to say he had briefed Abbas Araqchi on “regional and global developments.”
Upon his arrival in India this morning, Araqchi had urged restraint between Pakistan and India. Reuters reports Iran’s representative said “We hope that India and Pakistan will prevent the escalation of tension in the region. Our region needs peace, especially to expand economic cooperation between regional countries, and we hope this will happen.”
Araqchi visited Pakistan earlier this week, two days before India launched its missile strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Images on the news wires show the aftermath of alleged attacks on both sides of the India-Pakistan border and in the long-disputed territory of Kashmir.
India claims to have neutralised air defence in Lahore in response to Pakistan attack
India’s government has said it has been recovering debris from a number of locations after it accused Pakistan of launching an attack using drones and missiles.
“Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets … using drones and missiles,” India’s defence ministry said in a statement, adding that “these were neutralised” by air defence systems.
“The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations,” it added.
The defence ministry said that on Thursday morning its military had “targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan”, saying that the “response has been in the same domain, with the same intensity, as Pakistan.”
It claimed that it had “reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised.”
Welcome and opening summary …
India fired attack drones into Pakistan on Thursday, with one wounding four soldiers, the Pakistani military claimed, a day after missiles struck several locations and killed more than two dozen people. Several drones were shot down, officials said
Hours after the first drone attacks, India’s defence ministry said it targeted air defence systems in several locations in Pakistan, but did not say whether it used drones
India alleged that Pakistan had attempted to launch drones and missiles at a number of military targets in its north and west, including in the major cities of Amritsar, Srinagar and Chandigarh. It said its air defence systems stopped all the attacks
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have soared since gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in the India-controlled part of Kashmir last month. India accused Pakistan of being behind the assault. Islamabad denies that
Indian strikes on Wednesday killed 31 civilians, including women and children, according to Pakistani officials
Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to avenge the deaths in the strikes, raising fears that the two countries could be headed toward another all-out conflict.
