India Strikes Pakistan Over Tourist Killings, Pakistan Says Indian Jets Downed | TheNewsDESK

WEDNESDAY May 7, 2025

India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday, May 7, and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies, REUTERS reports.

India said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites, some of them linked to an attack by Islamist militants on Hindu tourists that killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir last month. Islamabad said six Pakistani locations were targeted, and that none of them were militant camps. Eight people killed, it said.

Indian forces attacked the headquarters of Islamist militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Indian defence source told Reuters.

“India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the Indian defence ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan said Indian missiles hit three sites and a military spokesperson told Reuters five Indian aircraft had been shot down, a claim not confirmed by India.

However, four local government sources in Indian Kashmir told Reuters that three fighter jets had crashed in separate areas of the Himalayan region during the night.
All three pilots had been hospitalised, the sources added. Indian defence ministry officials were not immediately available to confirm the information.
Images circulating on local media showed a large, damaged cylindrical chunk of silver-coloured metal lying in a field at one of the crash sites. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the image.

“All of these engagements have been done as a defensive measure,” Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said. “Pakistan remains a very responsible state. However, we will take all the steps necessary for defending the honour, integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, at all cost.”
Islamabad called the assault a “blatant act of war” and said it had informed the U.N. Security Council that Pakistan reserved the right to respond appropriately to Indian aggression.