India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations, killing at least 26 people, including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war.

Retaliatory Pakistani shelling has killed at least 10 in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials said.

India said the attacks on Wednesday targeted infrastructure used by fighters linked to last month’s attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Pakistan said it had shot down several Indian fighter jets in retaliation as three planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir.

Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbours since an attack in which gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, at a popular meadow in the disputed territory of Kashmir, in some cases killing men before their wives’ eyes.

India has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, something Islamabad has denied.

Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries but claimed in its entirety by each, has been at the centre of tensions for decades with two wars fought over it.

Advertisement

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s air attacks and said his country would retaliate.

“Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given,” Sharif said.

The country’s National Security Committee met Wednesday morning, and Pakistan summoned India’s charge d’affaires to lodge a protest.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security.