Pakistan claims to have killed '40 to 50 Indian soldiers'

India and Pakistan reported new exchanges of fire across their border on Thursday, with claims of dozens more deaths as tension showed no signs of easing. The nuclear-armed rivals accused each other of waves of drone attacks, as deadly confrontations between them drew global calls for calm. Explosions were reported late on Thursday at an airport in Jammu in Indian-held Kashmir, with sirens sounding and electricity cut off in the area. 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. Pakistan's Information Minister earlier claimed his country had killed "40 to 50 Indian soldiers" along the border in the disputed Kashmir region. "We have blown their military installations on the de facto border," Attuallah Tarar said on Thursday. India said it had attacked Pakistani air defence radars in response to mortar and artillery fire across the border. Indian wing commander Vyomika Singh said the armed forces had a "commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military". The latest clashes came a day after India launched missile strikes on what it claimed were nine terrorist camps linked to an attack in Kashmir last month. It denied accusations on Thursday of religious sites being hit. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar told diplomats in Islamabad that 26 people were killed and 46 injured in the strikes. He said the missile attacks had also caused "serious risks" to air traffic, as flights to India and Pakistan were disrupted for a second day. India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that "only terrorist infrastructure" had been attacked. "As far as we are concerned, the individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists," he said. The US meanwhile showed signs of increased engagement, one day after President Donald Trump said he would "do anything" he could to help. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday spoke separately to the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. In both calls, Mr Rubio "emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation" and expressed US support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan. In the call to Mr Sharif he urged Pakistan to “take steps to end support for terrorist groups” while also acknowledging that "civilians" had reportedly been killed in India's attack. Earlier, Pakistan had said it shot down 25 Israeli -made drones launched by India on Thursday, as the countries exchanged more fire along the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region. "The Pakistan armed forces have so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones," the military said in a statement. "Debris of Israeli-made Harop drones is being recovered from various areas." Airports in Pakistan's three biggest cities – Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore – were closed briefly due to the operation. Military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Indian drones "continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace ... [India] will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression". New Delhi later accused Pakistan of launching its own aerial attack overnight using "drones and missiles". India said it retaliated by attacking Pakistani air-defence systems. One Indian drone was shot down near a naval airbase in Lahore, about 25km east of the border, Pakistani police and security officials said. The Indian army said Pakistan had “resorted to unprovoked firing” by attacking the areas of Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor along the Line of Control – the 740km de facto border splitting the Jammu and Kashmir region. Locals said the Pakistani army shelled and opened fire on the Indian side throughout the night. At least 13 Indians including a soldier and four children were killed and nearly 60 injured in the artillery and mortar shelling, Indian authorities said. "This is a scary situation for us in the border area. We have not seen anything like this. We were scared so we evacuated with our family,” said Humail Nadeem, a resident of the border town of Poonch, which has also been attacked. The president of the Sikh temple in Poonch said a teacher had been killed when a shell hit a mosque. A wall of his Sikh temple was also damaged, he added. "We have never witnessed such heavy shelling in Poonch before. We saw the Kargil war in 1999 but civilian establishments largely remained untouched then,” said Narinder Singh. Explosions were also heard in Amritsar, the second-largest city in the Indian state of Punjab and a major cultural centre about 30km from the international border. Parts of a suspected Pakistani missile were found scattered at several locations in the Kathunanagal area of Amritsar, local news channels reported. TV footage showed panicked villagers gathered in fields around remnants of the missiles, but no injuries were reported. "There were four or five blasts between 1am and 1.30am. These were so loud and intense that the entire house was shaking,” one resident said. "There is a situation of panic.” New Delhi stunned the world on Wednesday when it launched "Operation Sindoor”, with missile strikes on nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir . The operation came after the killing of 25 tourists, all men and mostly Hindus, and a Muslim pony operator by armed militants in Kashmir’s Pahalgam two weeks ago, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the restless region. New Delhi has blamed the attack on Islamabad and accuses Pakistan of backing militant groups in Kashmir, a charge denied by Islamabad. The Resistance Front, an extremist group, claimed responsibility. India has claimed its air strikes on Wednesday killed 70 “terrorists” but maintained that no Pakistani military facilities were targeted. Islamabad said at least 31 people were killed in the Indian strikes and retaliated with the most intense round of shelling in four years. At least three Indian fighter planes were also shot down by the Pakistan military, including a Rafale plane, according to media reports. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who had been in Pakistan as part of mediation efforts, arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir also landed in the Indian capital on an unannounced visit, Mr Jaishankar said on X. The focus of Mr Al Jubeir's visit is also believed to be de-escalating tensions. "It is not our intention to escalate the situation," Mr Jaishankar told Mr Araghchi. "However, if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response." Jammu, a Hindu-dominated mountainous region, and Kashmir , a Muslim-dominated valley, is divided between India and Pakistan but is claimed by both nations in its entirety. The region has struggled with over three decades of insurgency against India. People were forced to take refuge in underground bunkers or flee their villages and towns as mortar shelling struck border towns on Wednesday, with many reported injured. Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have set up centralised control rooms in ten districts to monitor the security situation.

Pakistan claims to have killed '40 to 50 Indian soldiers'

Thirteen people, including four children, reported dead in Pakistani shelling on Indian border towns