Pakistan air bases hit, attack on Delhi thwarted: India retaliates as battle escalates | What we know so far

Jammu and Kashmir policemen stand guard as a woman walks along a street in Srinagar. (AFP photo)

Amid growing tensions between the two nations, India launched retaliatory strikes just hours after Pakistan carried out a new wave of drone attacks targeting 26 locations across the country on Friday.

After launching hundreds of drones against 36 locations in India on Thursday, which India promptly intercepted, Pakistan launched a swarm of drones on Friday targeting 26 locations, including Baramulla, Srinagar, Avantipora, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bhuj, for the second consecutive day.

This prompted the Indian side to launch a counter strike against Pakistan where 4 of its air bases, including the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, and Pak posts in Sialkot and Narowal came under attack.

Also Read: India-Pakistan War Live

India-Pak Tensions Mount: A timeline

- Hostilities were on a high for the second straight day after Pakistan launched a fresh wave of drone attacks targeting 26 locations—from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat. The strikes came a day after Pakistan used 300-400 Turkish-origin armed drones to target 36 locations inside India and used civilian airliners as a shield to attack military sites.

- On Friday, Pakistan targeted Srinagar airport and Awantipora air base in south Kashmir but the attacks were thwarted by India's air defence system, according to CNN-News18.

- Pakistan also reportedly launched the Fateh 2 missile to target Delhi which was intercepted successfully in Haryana’s Sirsa, according to top government sources cited by CNN-News18.

- Intermittent firing continued at many places along the Line of Control (LoC) with heavy artillery shelling from both sides. Pakistan also continued to shell civilian areas across the border, in a sharp contrast from India, which has repeatedly emphasised that its strikes — including in Operation Sindoor — were aimed at terrorists and the country is only retaliating to unprovoked attacks.

- Three people were killed in Rajouri—including a senior J&K government official—one in Mendhar, and one in RS Pura as Pakistan Army continued to target civilian population on Friday night, according to a media report.

- Complete blackout was announced in several parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana as Pakistani side mounted attack and launched drones.

- Following the second day of drone and missile attacks by Pakistan, India launched a retaliatory strike in the wee hours of Saturday.

- Indian armed forces launched an “appropriate and proportionate" counter-strike, inflicting heavy damages to Pakistani military installations and assets. Four air bases were breached in a further escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan as the former employed air-to-surface missiles.

- Two Pakistani fighter jets were shot down near Lasjan, Srinagar and the other in North Kashmir.

- Pakistan was finally forced to close its airspace till 12 noon on Saturday, with Peshawar-bound Pakistan International Airlines flight PIA218, the last airborne flight in their airspace, forced to hover over Quetta, according to CNN-News18.

India-Pakistan Tensions

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 people — mostly tourists — were shot dead in Baisaran Valley.

India vowed to avenge the 26 lives, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first public address two days after the Pahalgam attack, saying: “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth."

Days after the attack, India struck nine terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor.