Pakistan and India accuse each other of waves of drone attacks

India and Pakistan accused each other Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks, as deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed foes drew global calls for calm.

The fighting comes two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.

On Thursday, Pakistan's army said it shot down 28 Indian drones, while New Delhi accused Islamabad of launching raids with "drones and missiles", and claimed it destroyed an air defence system in Lahore.

At least 48 people have been killed on both sides of the border since India launched air strikes on Wednesday that it said targeted "terrorist camps", sparking the worst violence in decades between the South Asian neighbours.

The majority of the casualties have been in Pakistan, where authorities said at least 32 were killed, including 12 children.

The countries have fought two of their three full-scale wars over Kashmir, a disputed territory that both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.

- Explosions in Jammu -

"Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets... using drones and missiles," India's defence ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding that "these were neutralised".

AFP

Pakistan said it shot down 28 of 29 Indian drones on Thursday, with one landing in the city of Rawalpindi where the army is headquartered

The defence ministry said earlier its military had "targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan", adding it had destroyed an air defence system in Lahore, Pakistan's second city.

On Thursday evening, explosions were reported at the airport of Jammu, a key city in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, a security source who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP, without giving further details.

Pakistan denied that it had launched any strikes on India on Thursday, with the top military spokesman terming India's drone strikes a "phantom defence".

- Blasts in Lahore -

Pakistan called Delhi's drone attacks "another act of aggression", and said it had neutralised 28 out of 29 Israeli-made Harop drones that crossed into the country on Thursday.

AFP

Mohammad Nazir Khan, a Kashmiri resident, shows splinters of a mortar shell that exploded near his house in Kalgi village in Indian-administered Kashmir

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the drones "made attempts to attack military installations" and "targeted civilians", killing one and injuring four, with four army personnel also wounded.

Among the cities targeted was Rawalpindi, where the military is headquartered. The city's cricket stadium was one of the venues of the Pakistan Super League, which later announced its remaining eight matches would be moved to the United Arab Emirates.

Residents in Lahore reported hearing the sound of blasts, and aviation authorities briefly shut down operations at the main airport there and in the capital Islamabad.

- 'Shrapnel pierced her chest' -

AFP

Indian soldiers inspect the debris of a missile in a field on the outskirts of Amritsar

India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said New Delhi had a "right to respond" following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.

New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- a UN-designated terrorist organisation for the Pahalgam shooting, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.

Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation into the April 22 attack.

Pakistan's military said on Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.

An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.

There was trauma on both sides of the disputed border after the exchange of heavy artillery in darkness on Wednesday.

"A missile struck the mosque nearby, and a piece of shrapnel from the blast pierced my daughter's chest," 50-year-old Safeer Ahmad Awan told AFP in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir that was hit by Wednesday's Indian strikes.

"It was only when her clothes were soaked in blood that we discovered the injury," he added of the 15-year-old girl, who still had the metal lodged in her body.

On the other side of the border in Poonch, a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that was bombarded by Pakistan on Wednesday, 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," said Choudhary, 29.

"But shrapnel hit the children -- and they eventually died."

- Global pressure -

AFP

Police monitor the traffic during a blackout in Jammu city as explosions were reported at the airport of the key city in the Indian-held part of disputed Kashmir territory. A security source, who was not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the explosion without giving details about what caused them, but it came as India and Pakistan accused each other of carrying out waves of drone attacks. IMAGES

Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with leaders in both countries Thursday and urged "immediate de-escalation", his spokeswoman said.

US Vice President JD Vance later reiterated that call in a televised interview, but added that Washington was "not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business."

Several countries have offered to mediate, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities insist they have the right to retaliate to India's initial strikes.

In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned they would "avenge" those killed by Indian air strikes.

"We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs," he said.