ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military’s media wing said on Tuesday 11 members of the armed forces and 40 civilians had been killed in the latest military confrontation with India, vowing that future attacks would be met with a “swift, full-spectrum and decisive” response.
India and Pakistan engaged in four days of armed conflict last week, the worst between them since 1999, pounding each other with fighter aircraft, missiles, drones and artillery fire. The conflict erupted after weeks of tensions over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that India blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denies involvement.
India struck multiple Pakistani cities on Wednesday with missiles, claiming it had targeted “terrorist” camps in response to the April 22 attack. Islamabad vowed to retaliate, saying it had shot down five Indian fighter jets. Things came to a head on Saturday morning when Pakistan said India had attacked three bases, and it struck back with attacks on multiple bases in India, including a missile storage site in India’s north.
Hours later, US President Donald Trump announced he had brokered a ceasefire between the two states, calming fears of an all-out war.
“These barbaric strikes resulted in the martyrdom of 40 civilians — among them 7 women and 15 children — while 121 others sustained injuries, including 10 women and 27 children,” the army said, referring to India’s first strikes on Wednesday early morning.
“While defending the motherland with exemplary valor, 11 personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces embraced martyrdom and 78 were wounded.”
The casualties in the army included six non-commissioned officers, while a squadron leader and four technicians in the Pakistan Air Force were also killed.
“Let there be no ambiguity: any attempt to challenge Pakistan’s sovereignty or territorial integrity, ever again, shall be met with a swift, full-spectrum, and decisive response Inshallah,” the military’s media wing concluded in its statement.
Both countries claimed victory as the fragile ceasefire came into force, with Pakistan saying it targeted several Indian military sites on Saturday and destroyed an S-400 missile defense system as part of its retaliatory ‘Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos’ operation, which translates to “Wall of Lead” in Arabic, in response to India attacking three air bases.
India has also released new satellite images showing serious damage to air strips and radar stations at what Indian defense officials say are multiple Pakistani military bases crippled by massive Indian airstrikes.
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a region split between them, since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Both nations are nuclear-armed, raising global alarm every time an armed conflict breaks out between them.
