Pakistan 'will not de-escalate' in clash with India

Pakistan 's military said on Friday it "will not de-escalate" from soaring tension with India as both sides reported another exchange of fire. India said its neighbour had launched at least 300 drones and fired "heavy-calibre weapons" near the Pakistani border overnight. It said the fighting was endangering civilian aircraft, highlighting a flight from Dammam in Saudi Arabia to Karachi that could have been in the firing line. It said the Indian military had shown "considerable restraint" to prevent harm to passenger air traffic. The Pakistani military meanwhile reported an hour-long air battle as it vowed not to back down. "We will not de-escalate, with the damages they did on our side they should take a hit," Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday. "So far we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing." Pakistani forces launched several attacks using drones and other munitions along India's western border overnight, the Indian army said. The Indian army also said Pakistani troops had resorted to "numerous ceasefire violations" along the countries' de facto border in Kashmir, a region that is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. "The drone attacks were effectively repulsed and befitting reply was given to the CFVs [ceasefire violations]," the army said, adding that all "nefarious designs" would be responded to with force. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the Indian statement. Islamabad had earlier denied attacking Pathankot city in India's Punjab state, Srinagar in the Kashmir valley and Rajasthan state's Jaisalmer. The accusations were "unfounded" and "politically motivated", Pakistan said. Five civilians were killed in Indian shelling overnight in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a government official said on Friday, after days of exchanges between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The deaths were reported in areas near the heavily militarised border known as the Line of Control that separates the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. "Indian forces shelled civilian areas... resulting in the deaths of four people, including a two-year-old girl and injuring 12 others," police official Adeel Khan, based in Kotli district, told the AFP, adding that the shelling continued late into the night. The violence began when India carried out strikes against Pakistan on Wednesday after a terrorist attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, which New Delhi has blamed on Islamabad. India and Pakistan , both nuclear-armed nations, have fought three wars over Kashmir, the last in 1999 that lasted two months. More than 500 Indian soldiers were killed, while estimates of Pakistani losses range from 400 to about 4,000. There have been regular skirmishes and cross-border fire since then but the nations agreed to a ceasefire in 2021, which was broken after the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Armed gunmen killed 26 people were in the Himalayan picnic spot in the Kashmir valley. The Resistance Front, an extremist group, claimed responsibility. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing militant groups in Kashmir, a charge denied by Pakistan. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Ankara was making “every effort” to reduce tensions and open channels of dialogue before further escalation between India and Pakistan, following a call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday. Mr Erdogan accused unspecified actors of, “pouring fuel on the fire.” Turkey supports Pakistan's international investigation into what Mr Erdogan described as the “heinous terrorist attack” in Indian-administered Kashmir, which was claimed by the Resistance Front, a militant group, and left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead.

Pakistan 'will not de-escalate' in clash with India

New exchanges of fire reported as India accuses Pakistan of endangering civilian aircraft