WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The Indian government confirmed last night that its forces carried out military strikes on a total of nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The official statement said that it was an operation called "Sindoor", which hit "terrorist facilities from which attacks on India were planned and conducted".
We are following the situation live:
10:27 Air France also diverts flights to avoid Pakistan
Air France has joined airlines that have announced the diversion of flights to avoid Pakistani airspace, Reuters reports.
08:27 Indian Army: Our targets were recruitment centers, indoctrination and launch sites
An Indian Army spokesman said at a press conference today that the targets during the night airstrikes were "recruitment centers, launch sites and indoctrination centers".
"They were selected based on previous intelligence," the military official stressed.
At the briefing, journalists were also shown aerial photographs of the locations hit on Pakistani territory, which should confirm the accuracy of the strike.
07:22 Pakistani Army Chief: 26 civilians killed, 46 injured, we will respond
The Pakistani Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said that 26 civilians were killed during the night strikes by India, while an additional 46 people were injured.
This is a significant increase compared to the eight deaths reported earlier in the day. It is not yet clear whether the toll refers to a single location or includes victims of overnight cross-border shelling along the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistan's military leadership has said the country will respond to Indian attacks "at a time, place and manner of its own choosing".
Pakistan's Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told Turkish media that it was too early to talk about Pakistan's next move and that the world would have to wait to see what the National Security Council decides.
Tarar said Pakistan's response was underway and said India would pay.
07:12 An unidentified aircraft crashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir
An unidentified aircraft crashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an eyewitness and a local official confirmed to CNN.
The aircraft crashed in the village of Vujan, 19 kilometers southeast of Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"We heard the sound of a plane, then a loud explosion. We ran out of our houses in panic and saw it burning. Fortunately, no one was injured," local resident Abdul Rashid told CNN.
07:08 Why India attacked Pakistan
The Indian air and missile strikes come in retaliation for a deadly militant attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir. That attack killed at least 26 people, mostly tourists.
The attackers opened fire on visitors to the Baisaran plateau, about five kilometers from the town itself. Survivors say the attackers targeted Hindu men.
Dispute over responsibility for the attack
While Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack, Indian police say two of the four suspected militants are Pakistani nationals. The search for them is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan have retaliated with a series of reciprocal measures – closing parts of the border, suspending a river-sharing agreement, and exchanging small arms fire between the two countries’ armies.
Modi, the leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP party and a politician who has positioned himself as the protector of the nation, has vowed to “pursue the attackers to the ends of the earth.” He is a leader who won a rare third consecutive term last year and leads a country whose people, and especially the media, often display strong nationalist sentiment.
Public pressure for a decisive response
The air strikes carried out by India in Pakistani territory followed more than two weeks of growing political and public pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond decisively to his neighbor, whom New Delhi immediately blamed for the massacre of Indian tourists in Pahalgam in late April.
The Indian media was unrelenting in its demands for revenge - "We want revenge" ran the headlines, while others pointed out that "Bharat is ready for battle", using the Sanskrit name for India.
