India and Pakistan are on the brink of a major military crisis after India launched coordinated air strikes on Pakistani territory early Wednesday, prompting Islamabad to claim it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in response. The rapid escalation has drawn urgent calls for restraint from the international community.
India’s strikes, codenamed Operation Sindoor, were launched in the early hours and targeted areas in both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. According to Indian officials, the operation lasted 25 minutes and focused solely on what they called terrorist infrastructure belonging to the groups Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Indian authorities have stated that no civilian, economic, or official military targets were hit. However, Pakistan’s government offered a starkly different version of events, claiming that multiple civilians were killed, mosques were damaged, and several areas—including the densely populated Punjab province—were struck.
These are believed to be the deepest Indian strikes inside Pakistani territory since the 1971 war. Pakistan’s military said six sites were hit, and that the attack was unprovoked and illegal. CNN has not independently verified the claims made by either side.
In response, Pakistan claims it shot down five Indian Air Force jets and a drone during a retaliatory aerial confrontation. Among the jets allegedly downed were three Rafale fighters modern aircraft recently acquired by India from France. A French intelligence source confirmed the loss of one Rafale and said further investigation was ongoing.
One Pakistani security official described an aerial battle involving around 125 jets from both countries, with missiles fired across the Line of Control but no aircraft entering opposing airspace. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared that the Indian planes were blown to smithereens.
India has not publicly responded to the shootdown claims but its embassy in China dismissed as disinformation a report by Chinese state media that several of its jets had been downed. Despite New Delhi’s silence, multiple crash reports have emerged from Indian territory since the strikes.
In India’s Punjab province, eyewitnesses and a local official reported a plane crash in the early hours of Wednesday. The aircraft has not been officially identified, but local authorities said it appeared to be Indian. Meanwhile, in Wuyan village in Indian-administered Kashmir, another unidentified aircraft reportedly crashed, with images of wreckage circulating in international media.
Pakistan’s military reported 31 fatalities and 57 injuries on its side of the border, including children and a 3-year-old. In Indian-administered Kashmir, 12 civilians were reported killed and 57 wounded due to Pakistani shelling, according to a senior Indian defense source.
Fighting has continued across the Line of Control nearly every day since April 22, when gunmen stormed a tourist site in Kashmir, killing 26 people—mostly Indian nationals. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack, a claim Islamabad has categorically denied.
The hostilities have disrupted civilian life and commercial activity. Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir ordered mass evacuations from vulnerable areas, and international airlines are now rerouting flights to avoid Pakistani airspace. As both nations dig in, fears are mounting over a possible slide into open warfare unless diplomatic intervention occurs soon.
