India-Pakistan war update: Pakistan claims it has killed up to 50 Indian soldiers in retaliation for Kashmir strikes

The US Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan, has just now directed its staff to shelter in place amid reports of drone explosions, downed drones and possible airspace incursions, the state department said.

The consulate has also received initial reports that authorities may be evacuating some areas adjacent to Lahore’s main airport, it added.

Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar has claimed that Pakistan has targeted and destroyed Indian milit installations along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border in Kashmir, and alleged that “40-50 Indian soldiers” were killed.

Tarar said in an earlier interview with Sky News that India was the “aggressor” and vowed retaliation.

India has not responded to Pakistan’s claims of dozens of soldiers’ deaths.

Earlier, Indian media reported that one soldier was killed in the cross-border shelling across the Line of Control, besides 12 civilians.

India said its Operation Sindoor struck nine Pakistani sites on Wednesday that provided “terrorist infrastructure” and from which attacks against it were orchestrated. Its milit spokesperson said the sites were completely destroyed.

Sindoor, which refers to the red vermilion powder worn by married Hindu women, is an apparent reference to the widows left by the 22 April attack that killed 26 men, most of them Hindu.

During an all-party meeting, India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh reiterated that India does not want further escalation but reportedly said that the country will retaliate if provoked.

NDTV, citing sources, said that the defence minister also said that around 100 “terrorists” were killed in India’s 25-minute missile barrage early on Wednesday, across nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, told ANI that the government said “they cannot share a few things which are confidential in the interest of national security. We [all parties] said we stand with the government”.

Pakistan’s milit has claimed that it shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones sent by India that violated its airspace.

Earlier, the Pakistan army had claimed it shot down 12 Indian drones.

Spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that India sent Israeli Harop drones to multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected.

“Indian drones continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace…(India) will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression,” he said.

India has not yet responded to Pakistan’s claim.

China’s foreign ministry this morning said it was “not familiar with the matter” when asked whether Chinese jets were involved in the India-Pakistan conflict after India hit Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir with missiles yesterday.

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, told parliament that Chinese J-10C jets were used to shoot down five Indian fighter jets along the border, which included French-made Rafale.

The Indian government has not verified the claims of its jets being shot down.

Mr Dar said the ministry kept Beijing informed about the milit action soon after the Indian airstrikes began.

The minister also held a meeting with China’s ambassador Jiang Zaidong later in the day.

India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh told a closed-door all-party meeting this morning that 100 militants were killed in Indian airstrikes on Pakistan, NDTV reported.

Pakistan shot down 12 drones from India that violated its airspace, the milit said this morning, a day after Indian strikes on multiple targets in the country fanned fears of a larger milit conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

India sent Israeli Harop drones to multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected, Pakistan milit spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said.

“Indian drones continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace…(India) will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression,” he said.

He added that one civilian was killed and at least four personnel of the Pakistan army sustained injuries when a 13th Indian drone “managed to engage in a milit target near Lahore partially”.

“Four men of Pakistan army have been injured in this attack near Lahore with partial damage to an equipment has occurred.”

Local police official Mohammad Rizwan said a drone was downed near Walton Airport, an airfield in a residential area of Lahore that also contains milit installations.