India Strikes Pakistan, Escalating Tensions Over Kashmir Terror Attack
(ANALYSIS) India launched a major military strike deep into Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early on May 7, saying it targeted sites used by terror groups responsible for the April 22 attacks on civilians in the Kashmir region. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “blatant act of war,” promising that it “will not go unpunished” and claiming that a “resolute response is already underway.”
According to India’s Ministry of Defense, the targets were part of “terrorist infrastructure,” and included bases linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba — two terror groups that India accuses of operating from within Pakistan. A senior Indian defense source told Reuters these were the groups behind the recent killing of 26 Hindu pilgrims in Pahalgam, Kashmir.
India’s military said it carried out the attacks with restraint, selecting its targets carefully and minimizing civilian harm. Pakistan, however, has strongly rejected these claims.
Pakistan claimed that six locations were struck by Indian missiles — three in Pakistan and three in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir — but insisted that none were militant camps. Reuters and BBC quoted officials in Islamabad as saying that civilian areas were hit, including mosques and residential neighbourhoods.
The Pakistani military alleged eight civilians had been killed and 35 injured, with two still missing. This included children, according to their military spokesperson.
The situation rapidly escalated.
Pakistan’s military claimed it had shot down five Indian aircraft: three Rafale jets, one Sukhoi Su-30, one MiG-29 and one Israeli-made Heron drone. This was announced by the Pakistani army spokesperson Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary in a video posted by Reuters. India has not confirmed or responded to these claims.
However, four local government officials in Kashmir told Reuters that three Indian jets had crashed in different areas during the night, and all three pilots were taken to hospital. The Associated Press said only two aircraft fell onto villages in Kashmir.
There was no immediate confirmation from India’s defense ministry on these crashes.
Reuters reported images circulating in Indian media showing what appeared to be wreckage of a jet — a large silver-coloured metallic cylinder lying in a field — though the authenticity of the image has not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, both countries exchanged heavy gunfire and artillery along the Line of Control (LoC).
In Pakistan’s Forward Kahuta region, two men were killed when mortars hit a house, according to Imran Shaheen, a local official. In another village, one more person was reportedly killed in shelling. In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, residents were woken by explosions.
On the Indian side, shelling by Pakistan reportedly resulted in at least three civilian deaths. One of the victims, Ruby Kaur, was struck by mortar fragments while preparing tea early in the morning, her uncle Buava Singh told BBC. She died before reaching the hospital. Her daughter was seriously injured. Singh added that there were no community bunkers in their village and that they had never witnessed such intense shelling before.
Both nations quickly shut down schools across the region. In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Punjab and Islamabad, educational institutions were closed. Emergency services in Pakistan’s populous Punjab province were put on high alert, hospitals were readied and public gatherings were restricted.
India has named its operation “Sindoor” — a term referring to the red powder many Hindu women wear as a marital symbol. New Delhi says the strikes were justified, pointing to alleged Pakistani links to the Pahalgam attack. It said that two of the three attackers were Pakistani nationals.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 — two of them over Kashmir. Although the two sides renewed their commitment to a ceasefire in 2021, large-scale cross-border strikes have been rare in recent years, especially those carried out by India across the LoC into Pakistani territory.
Reuters noted that the current strike goes beyond India’s 2019 air strike following the Pulwama suicide bombing, in which 40 Indian paramilitary personnel were killed. That operation had led to aerial clashes and heightened tensions, but the current situation appears even more dangerous, with both sides suffering casualties and aircraft losses.
The international community responded with concern.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for “maximum military restraint,” according to his spokesperson. U.S. President Donald Trump described the fighting as “a shame” and expressed hope for a quick resolution.
Meanwhile, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval reportedly briefed the U.S. Secretary of State and officials in Britain, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE about the strikes.
Economic fallout was also immediate.
According to Reuters, news of the strikes impacted Indian stock futures mildly, with the GIFT NIFTY — a crucial barometer for market expectations and volatility — at 24,311 on May 7, 0.3% below the NIFTY 50’s last close of 24,379.6 on May 6.
GIFT Nifty is a derivative of India’s benchmark Nifty 50 index, traded on the NSE International Exchange within the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), which is India’s first International Financial Services Centre. It provides global investors with an early indication of market sentiment ahead of domestic market hours, as it operates for longer durations, including overnight.
Several major airlines, including IndiGo, Air India and Qatar Airways, cancelled flights over the affected areas due to airspace closures in parts of India and Pakistan.
The crisis has pushed the region into a dangerous standoff. A retaliatory posture from Pakistan, as Prime Minister Sharif has warned, will be crucial in determining whether the conflict escalates into a wider confrontation. Both governments know the stakes — but the question remains whether either will blink.
This piece has been published in parternship with Newsreel Asia.
Vishal Arora is an independent journalist based in New Delhi, India, who covers Asia and beyond. He serves as editor of @Newsreel_Asia and is a board member of The Media Project. He’s written for many outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Diplomat and The Caravan.