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.
Key events
Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
