Armed conflict

India Missile Attack on Pakistan Kills 31, Injures 57

MAY 6 2025·Updated MAY 7 2025

Story

Above: Above: A flare goes up in air over the hill near main town of Poonch district of Kashmir, on May 7, 2025. Image credit: Punit Paranjpe/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images

The Facts

India announced that it had launched airstrikes on nine sites across Pakistan overnight on Tuesday as part of "Operation Sindoor," a joint effort between the Indian Army and Air Force, stating that the strikes were aimed only at militant camps.
The Telegraph
The Hindu
Reuters
Pakistan confirmed Indian missile strikes hit five locations — Bahawalpur and Muridke in Punjab, and Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and Bagh in Pakistan-administered Kashmir — and said at least 31 people, including women and children, were killed, 57 were injured, and two mosques were hit.
GEO
DAWN.COM
Al Jazeera
In response, Pakistan fired heavy mortar shells on villages along the Line of Control in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri and shot down five Indian Air Force aircraft, including three Rafale jets. India reported at least 13 deaths. Without providing details, Pakistan has vowed to retaliate, though affirmed it would only strike Indian military targets.
The Associated Press
DAWN.COM
Al Jazeera
Reuters
This comes amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, especially as India blames Pakistan-based militants for an attack on April 22 that killed 28 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir — the worst such violence against civilians in India in almost two decades. Pakistan denied any involvement.
Reuters
The Associated Press
ABC News
Earlier, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi suspended his part of the Indus Waters Treaty and said in a speech in New Delhi that he would stop water from flowing across India's borders, prompting Islamabad to warn that such an action would be considered an act of war.
BBC News
DAWN
The latest escalation takes place against the backdrop of decades-long tensions between the two nuclear-armed states, which have fought multiple wars over Kashmir since 1947, with both claiming the region in its entirety while administering only part of it.
The Associated Press
Al Jazeera
BBC News

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

The surgical strikes were a necessary, measured response to cross-border terrorism, designed to be nonescalatory in nature. Pakistan has consistently harbored terrorist organizations that have carried out numerous attacks against India. The targeted locations were specifically chosen to eliminate terrorist infrastructure only.

The Times of India

Narrative B

India's unprovoked, cowardly aggression deliberately targeted civilian areas and religious sites, including mosques, resulting in innocent casualties, in an attack that violates international law and Pakistan's sovereignty. As there is no evidence to link Pakistan to the April 22 attack, this act of war demands a forceful response to protect Pakistan's territorial integrity.

GEO