India-Pakistan news: Troops exchange gunfire along contested border after air strikes escalate tensions
New Delhi insists 'very large number' of militants dead after raid, while Islamabad says it caused no deaths
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Your support makes all the difference.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.”
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
Muhammad Amir Rana, a security analyst and executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, has urged the international community to move quickly to de-escalate tensions.
"It's quite critical and it is important that the international community intervene quickly to start a peace process between India and Pakistan," he said, adding that the US, China and Russia should take the lead.
Indian and Pakistan troops exchanged gunfire along several sectors of their contested border in Kashmir later on Tuesday.
Local officials on the Pakistani side said at least four people had been killed and seven wounded
Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said she had spoken to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Indian diplomats met foreign ambassadors to assure them no escalation was planned.
China, Pakistan's long-time ally, and United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres have urged both countries to exercise restraint.
"We hope that both India and Pakistan can ... take actions that will help stabilize the situation in the region and help to improve mutual relations," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
Pakistani soldiers and media personnel gather at the site where the Indian Air Force launched a strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp (SAJJAD QAYYUM/AFP/Getty Images)
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