India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, in strikes that the Pakistani military said killed at least 26 civilians.

India said it struck infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbors since the attack, which was claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself Kashmir Resistance. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack. Islamabad has denied the accusation.

Pakistan claimed it shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation for the missile strikes as two planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir. At least seven civilians were also killed in the region by Pakistani shelling, the Indian army said in a statement.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the strikes and said the “deceitful enemy has carried out cowardly attacks” and that his country would retaliate.

“The retaliation has already started,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told AFP. “We won’t take long to settle the score.”

Stephane Dujarric, the United Nations spokesperson, said in a statement late Tuesday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum military restraint from both countries.

The US and China both called on India and Pakistan to engage in diplomacy and exercise restraint.

Indian politicians from different political parties, meanwhile, lauded the strikes, with the main opposition Congress party calling for national unity and saying it was “extremely proud” of the country’s army.

India’s army said the operation was named........

© The Times of Israel