India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing at least 26 people including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war.India said it struck infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.Pakistan said it had shot down several Indian fighter jets in retaliation as three planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir. At least seven civilians were also killed in the region by Pakistani shelling, Indian police and medics said.Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbors since an attack in which gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, at a popular meadow in the disputed territory of Kashmir, in some cases killing men before their wives’ eyes.
India has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, something Islamabad has denied.
Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries but claimed in its entirety by each, has been at the center of tensions for decades and they have fought two wars over it.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday’s airstrikes and said his country would retaliate.
