India said it conducted military strikes on nine sites in Pakistan in retaliation for a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir, intensifying a confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The Indian defense ministry said its forces carried out strikes on camps terrorists have used to stage attacks against India, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
“We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” India’s defense ministry said.
“Justice is served,” said India’s army on social-media platform X.
India’s action came despite diplomatic efforts, including phone calls by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Pakistan’s prime minister and India’s foreign minister last week, aimed at persuading both sides to lessen tensions that have reached their highest point in years.
Pakistan’s army spokesman, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said that missiles hit three locations, including Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Kashmir is split between areas controlled by India and by Pakistan.
“This heinous provocation will not remain unanswered,” Chaudhry said on a local news channel. “Right now we are assessing the damages.”
The rivals have inched closer to conflict since gunmen burst into a scenic meadow April 22 in Indian-administered Kashmir and killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists.
Indian and Pakistani forces subsequently exchanged small-arms fire across the Kashmir border for several consecutive days, jeopardizing a fragile 2021 cease-fire agreement between the neighbors.
India accused Pakistan of having links to the attack. Kashmir police identified three gunmen and released sketches of them along with a bounty of about $24,000 each. They identified one as a local militant and two as Pakistani militants. India hasn’t provided any evidence publicly.
Pakistan has denied involvement in last month’s attack and has accused India of sponsoring a terror network inside Pakistan. India has dismissed that allegation.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to hunt the attackers “to the ends of the earth,” a message he has repeated in recent days. Pakistan warned last week Wednesday that Indian action was imminent.
“Pakistan will not be the first to resort to any escalatory move,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said. “However, in case of any escalatory move by the Indian side, we will respond very strongly.”
The specter of fresh conflict between the countries, which have fought three wars largely over the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir, follows years of frosty peace. Pakistan has been focused on economic crisis and political instability, while India turned to cultivating deeper ties with Western countries including the U.S.
Overt confrontation now would invite a Pakistani response, said Ashley Tellis , an expert on Asian geopolitics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “You open Pandora’s box,” Tellis said.
Both India and Pakistan claim all of Kashmir, although each controls only portions of the territory. They last clashed over the region in 2019 after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian paramilitary police officers in Kashmir. The attacker claimed in a video released afterward to be a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani militant group.
India retaliated with airstrikes against Pakistan. Pakistani forces shot down a warplane and captured an Indian pilot. Tensions eased after the countries negotiated his release.
Months later, India revoked the longstanding special status that gave Indian Kashmir—which had been India’s only Muslim-majority state—more autonomy than other parts of the country and detained thousands of people in a harsh clampdown. India said the special status contributed to militancy there.
Since the April attack, security forces in Kashmir have demolished the homes of alleged militants and their families and detained hundreds for questioning.
India has also implemented a slew of economic and diplomatic measures against Pakistan, including suspension of a crucial water-sharing agreement.
Brokered by the World Bank in 1960, the treaty to manage shared rivers has withstood two wars and a major land skirmish between the countries. Though it would take India years to build dams to choke off water to Pakistan, its move signaled that even minimal cooperation has broken down, said Husain Haqqani , senior fellow at Hudson Institute and a former Pakistan ambassador to the U.S.
“Short of war, this is the worst stage for two countries,” he said.
Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines, a move India matched. Pakistani forces detained an Indian border guard who accidentally strayed across the border. India has ordered Pakistan nationals in India to leave, and reduced staff allowed at Pakistan’s diplomatic mission.
India’s military is stretched because many soldiers are deployed at the disputed border with China following a 2020 clash, analysts said. China is a close ally of Pakistan and its top weapons provider.
“That Pakistan-China nexus must be on the minds of Indian decision-makers as well,” said Asfandyar Mir, senior fellow at the Stimson Center.
