At least eight people, including a child, were killed and around 38 were injured in India's Operation Sindoor early on Wednesday, Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has claimed.
India's missile attacks come in retaliation to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, when 26 people were killed.
India's defence ministry stressed that the operation was measured and non-escalatory, with no Pakistani civilian, economic, or military installations struck.
Pakistan's Minister of Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif said "they (India) have targeted multiple locations, which are all civilian."
India had underlined that their strikes had targeted known terror centres.
Pakistan has called a National Security Committee meet after the strikes, reported AFP.
Calling the strikes "a cowardly attack", Chaudhary, claimed that Indian strikes hit locations in Kotli, Muridke, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffarabad.
Muridke houses the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba, while Bahawalpur in Punjab province is a known base of Jaish-e-Mohammad, led by Masood Azhar.
Chaudhry also called the strikes a "heinous provocation" and said "we will retaliate at the time of our choosing".
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, condemning the attack as a "heinous act of aggression", said, "a resolute response is already underway."
Following the strikes, Pakistan initiated artillery shelling along the Line of Control in the Bhimber Gali sector of the Poonch-Rajauri region that claimed at least three Indian lives.
The Indian Army stated that its troops are "responding appropriately in a calibrated manner."
Pakistan has reportedly closed all major airports for a period of 48 hours.
State-run Pakistan Television, quoting security officials, said the country's air force shot down two Indian jets in retaliation but provided no additional detail, reported AP.
Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Indian forces had launched the strikes while staying in Indian airspace. Other locations hit were near Muridke in Punjab and Kotli in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
It said the attack reportedly resulted in civilian casualties and posed a significant threat to commercial air traffic.
"This reckless escalation has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict," the statement said.
