India hits 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir

Multiple loud explosions were heard in several places in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday as India said it had attacked “terrorist infrastructure” in nine sites and Pakistan vowed to respond to the attacks.

After the explosions, power was blacked out in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what the explosions were.

“A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed,” the Indian government said in a statement.

“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” it said.

A spokesman for Pakistan’s military told broadcaster ARY that India had attacked Pakistan with missiles in three places and that Pakistan would respond.

The missiles struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to three Pakistani security officials. One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, and a woman and man were injured, one official said.