Pakistan vows retaliation after India launch strikes

INDIA has fired attack drones into Pakistan, with one wounding four soldiers, the Pakistani military said.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

India, meanwhile, accused its neighbour of attempting its own attack, as tensions soared between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India acknowledged that it targeted Pakistan’s air defence system, and Islamabad said it shot down several of the drones.

India said it “neutralised” Pakistan’s attempts to hit military targets. It was not possible to verify all of the claims.

The back and forth came a day after Indian missiles struck several locations in Pakistan, killing 31 civilians, according to Pakistani officials.

New Delhi said it was retaliating after gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir last month. India accused Pakistan of being behind the assault but Islamabad denies that.

The two sides have also traded heavy fire across their frontier in disputed Kashmir, and Pakistan claimed it killed scores of Indian soldiers. There was no confirmation from India.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to avenge the deaths in India’s missile strikes, raising fears that the two countries could be headed towards another all-out conflict.

Leaders from both nations face mounting public pressure to show strength and seek revenge, and the heated rhetoric and competing claims could be a response to that pressure.