India-Pakistan latest: Pakistan launches retaliatory strikes after ‘India targets milit bases’

India’s Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has postponed an eponymous javelin event in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru this month after his country and neighbour Pakistan extended their worst fighting in nearly three decades.

The Neeraj Chopra Classic on 24 May, a World Athletics Gold category meet, was set to feature a host of international names including Anderson Peters, Julius Yego, Thomas Roehler and Curtis Thompson.

Chopra’s move came after cricket-mad India and Pakistan suspended their elite Twenty20 leagues on Friday in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

“This decision has been made after careful thought and consultation, with the wellbeing of athletes, stakeholders, and the broader community as the top priority,” Chopra’s team announced on social media on Friday.

“We believe in the unifying power of sport. But, in this critical moment, standing firm with the nation matters most. All our gratitude and thoughts at this point are only with our Armed Forces, who are at the forefront for our nation.”

Chopra said late last month it was “completely out of the question” that rival and Paris Olympics gold medallist Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan would attend the meet following a deadly Islamist militant attack in Indian Kashmir.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a crucial meeting of the National Command Authority, the main body that makes decisions on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

The meeting comes amid escalating situation between the two countries, with Pakistan’s planning and development minister hoping that the nuclear threshold is not breached.

At least five people were killed in India’s Jammu region in attacks by Pakistan this morning, Indian police said.

In northern Punjab’s Amritsar city, home to the famous Golden Temple, the local administration issued a red alert this morning with sirens blaring in the area.

In an SMS message to residents, the administration requested they stay indoors and stay away from windows.

A red alert was also issued in the town of Bathinda, in Punjab, which happens to be the location of a key air force station.

Pakistan has continued to escalate the situation with drone strikes and other munitions along the western borders of India, said the Indian Army. “In one such incident, today at approximately 5am, multiple enemy armed drones were spotted flying over Khasa Cantt, Amritsar,” said the Indian milit on X, adding that they were “instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units”.

“Pakistan’s blatant attempt to violate India’s sovereignty and endanger civilians is unacceptable. Indian Army will thwart enemy designs.”

Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar said the country launched retaliatory strikes after exercising restraint for several days in the face of repeated Indian aggression.

“There was no other option because India showed no sincerity in response to the diplomatic efforts made by friendly countries,” Mr Dar told News.

He said Pakistan had made it clear repeatedly that it reserves the right to respond under the provisions of the UN Charter, adding: “We acted only after India continued firing drones and missiles.”

He blamed India for the escalation, saying India gave no positive response to the efforts that were made by the international community to defuse the situation.

Mr Dar said the world wanted peace in the region, but India ignored all pleas from the international community.

US secret of state Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistani army chief Asim Munir earlier today, according to the US Department of State.

He offered US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts, urging both parties to find ways to deescalate.

A civil administrator was killed and two people wounded in Pakistani shelling in a frontier town near the highly militarised Line of Control in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the official was killed when a Pakistani shell hit his house in southern Rajouri town early this morning.

Police said the official’s two staff members were critically injured.Indian and Pakistani soldiers have heavily exchanged artillery and gunfire along the Line of Control that divides the disputed Kashmir region between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Indian officials said Pakistani troops barraged their posts overnight with artillery, mortars and gunfire at multiple locations in Kashmir. They said Indian soldiers responded.

Saturday’s killing takes the death toll in Indian-administered Kashmir to 19 since Wednesday when the two countries’ latest milit standoff began. Pakistan has said Indian mortar and artillery fire has killed 17 civilians in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the same period.

Pakistan’s milit said that its retaliatory strikes against India are ongoing.

According to a statement by the milit, the Pakistan Air Force’s JF-17 Thunder aircraft launched hypersonic missiles that struck a key Indian milit facility in Adampur, in Punjab’s Jalandhar district where India has an air force base.

The milit claimed that the Indian S-400 air defense system was destroyed in the strike on Adampur. India has not commented on any of the claims and there was no way to independently verify the information.

Pakistan has shut down every airport for all flight operations, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.

In a statement, it said the decision to close Pakistan’s airspace for all flights was made because of the developing situation following the attacks made by India.