Pakistan death toll rises to eight
A Pakistani military spokesperson has told the Reuters and AFP news agencies that the death toll from Indian strikes on Pakistan has risen to eight civilians.
Two further people have been reported missing with 35 injured in the strikes.
The spokesperson reported up to 24 strikes across six locations.
Key events
The UK Foreign Office has said that it advises against all travel within 10km of the India–Pakistan border and to the Balochistan province of Pakistan.
A statement said: “On the night of 6 May (UK Time), the Indian Ministry of Defence stated it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In response, there are reports of Pakistani artillery fire across the Line of Control.”
“Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority indicated that it was closing Pakistan airspace for at least 48 hours. There are reports of flights being diverted. British nationals should contact their airline for up-to-date information.”
“We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. British nationals should stay up to date with our travel advice and follow the advice of local authorities.”
How did we get here?
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated rapidly after the massacre of 25 Indian tourists and a Nepalese citizen in the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region on Tuesday, prompting warnings of a return to conflict.
A previously unknown Islamic militant group calling itself the Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack, which India immediately linked to Pakistan, although it did not publicly produce any evidence. Pakistan has denied any involvement.
Among a string of punitive measures announced since Tuesday, India has downgraded diplomatic ties, suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals.
In retaliation, Pakistan has closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country.
Why is Kashmir so sensitive?
The region, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been disputed since India and Pakistan came into being in 1947. Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders: the “line of control” based on a ceasefire border established after the 1947-48 war. China controls another part in the east.
India and Pakistan have gone to war a further two times over Kashmir, most recently in 1999.
The dispute stems from the partition of colonial India in 1947, when small, semi-autonomous “princely states” across the subcontinent were being folded into India or Pakistan, and the local ruler chose to become part of India despite the fact the area had a Muslim majority.
Armed insurgents in Kashmir have resisted Delhi for decades, with many Muslim Kashmiris supporting the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India accuses Pakistan of backing militants – a claim Pakistan denies.
What has happened in recent years?
In 2019 Narendra Modi’s government launched a severe security crackdown in Indian-administered Kashmir and revoked the region’s special status, which had granted it limited autonomy since 1949.
The move fulfilled a longstanding Hindu-nationalist pledge and was widely welcomed across India, but angered many in the territory itself. Against a backdrop of widespread repression, insurgent violence tapered off and tourists returned to the region.
New rules were implemented that allowed outsiders to buy land in Kashmir for the first time, which many saw as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) to dispossess them from their land and change the Muslim demography of the region.
Under its special status Kashmir had been able to define who its permanent residents were, preventing incomers from other parts of India from applying for jobs, scholarships or buying land.
With the new domicile rule, India widened who was eligible to live and work in Kashmir, leading to accusations that it was trying to change the demographic make-up of the region. The Resistance Front cited this claim when it claimed Tuesday’s attack.
Why has India reacted so forcefully to the Kashmir attack?
The attack – in the midst of a visit by the US vice-president, JD Vance – was highly embarrassing for Modi and his BJP party, which has been boasting since 2019 about the success of its security policies in Kashmir.
The anger in India has been exacerbated by the sectarian nature of the attack, during which some of the male tourists were reportedly asked to recite Islamic verses to determine who would be killed
Exchanges of fire across multiple points of line of control
A Pakistan military spokesperson had told Reuters that exchanges of fire with Indian troops continue across multiple points along the line of control.
The same spokesperson has claimed that five Indian aircraft were shot down, but the Guardian has been unable to independently verify this. The spokesperson told Reuters that the Indian planes were shot down by Pakistan while they were in Indian airspace.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said that he is monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely.
Rubio has said he will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution and echoed President Trump’s comments that “this hopefully ends quickly.”
I am monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely. I echo @POTUS‘s comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 6, 2025
Protests against India have broken out in the Pakistani city of Hyderabad. Indian flags have been defaced as well as images of prime minister Narendra Modi.
Pakistan death toll rises to eight
A Pakistani military spokesperson has told the Reuters and AFP news agencies that the death toll from Indian strikes on Pakistan has risen to eight civilians.
Two further people have been reported missing with 35 injured in the strikes.
The spokesperson reported up to 24 strikes across six locations.
Air India diverts two international flights
Two Air India international flights en route to Amritsar are being diverted to Delhi, the airline has announced.
The airline has said it has cancelled all flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot until midday local time on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in a statement Qatar Airways says it has temporarily suspended flights to Pakistan.
We’re getting some pictures from on the ground in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after India fired missiles at Pakistani territory.
A US state department spokesperson has said they are aware of reports of the ongoing attacks but had “no assessment to offer at this time.”
This remains an evolving situation and we are closely monitoring developments.”
In recent days, Washington has urged the nuclear-armed neighbours to work with each other to de-escalate tensions and arrive at a “responsible solution.”
US leaders, including president Donald Trump, offered support to India after the 22 April militant attack in which 26 people were killed. American officials did not directly blame Pakistan.
Analysts said last month that Washington may leave India and Pakistan on their own in the early days of the tensions, in part because it already has a lot to deal with, given US involvement in trying to reach diplomatic goals in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Indian airline Spice Jet has said that due to the ongoing situation, “airports in parts of northern India” including Dharamshala, Leh, Jammu, Srinagar and Amritsar are closed.
News of the strikes have also hit India’s stock futures with the benchmark NSE Nifty 50 index falling 1.19%.
Pakistan official confirms at least two Indian jets shot down
Shah Meer Baloch
The director general of the media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces has confirmed to the Guardian that at least two jets of the Indian air force have been shot down.
“I confirm that we have shot down at least two Indian Air Force jets,” said DG Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.
Separately a senior security official, requesting anonymity, said that the military shot down three Indian jets.
“We have shot down one jet in Bathinda, Indian Punjab province bordering with Pakistan Punjab province, and two jets in Indian occupied Kashmir in Awantipora and Akhnoor. They were in their airspace after the attacks and we had fired missiles,” said the official.
He added that “India had started the conflict with its attacks on civilians in Pakistan. We had to retaliate. We had to protect our sovereignty.”
Cross border shelling continues across line of control
Shah Meer Baloch
Cross border firing continues across the line of control between parts of Pakistan and India administered Kashmir, after Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan.
Jawad Ahmed Paras, from Neelum Valley in Pakistan administered Kashmir told the Guardian that the cross-border firing is going on without any pause. Mortar shells are being fired from both sides on checkpoints.
Paras said “the loud explosions have been heard in the valley since the Indian airstrikes. Everyone is awake and very worried. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Some people who had built shelters and bunkers have moved to them. None has seen such severe firings over two decades.”
After the Indian airstrikes, we are terrified. We can’t sleep tonight. None can sleep when the mortars are fired and everyone is worried about his life.”
The strikes came just hours after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said that water flowing across India’s borders would be stopped. Pakistan had warned that tampering with the rivers that flow from India into its territory would be an “act of war.”
Modi did not mention Islamabad specifically, but his speech came after Delhi suspended its part of the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water critical to Pakistan for consumption and agriculture.
“India’s water used to go outside, now it will flow for India,” Modi said in a speech.
The Indus treaty governs the distribution and use of waters from the Indus River and its tributaries, which feed 80% of Pakistan’s irrigated agriculture and its hydropower.
As well as suspending the treaty, Delhi has suspended trade with Pakistan, summoned and expelled its diplomats, and suspended visas for Pakistanis. Pakistan has also suspended all trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in Delhi on Wednesday, two days after talks in Islamabad with Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Tehran has offered to mediate between the two nations, and Araghchi will be the first senior foreign diplomat to visit both countries since the 22 April attack sent relations plunging.
If you’re just joining us, India has attacked nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Wednesday with at least three deaths reported. Pakistan has said it was mounting a response as the worst fighting in years erupted between the two countries.
Armies of the nuclear-armed neighbours have also exchanged intense shelling and heavy gunfire across their frontier in disputed Kashmir in at least three places, police and witnesses told the Reuters news agency.
The offensive has occurred amid heightened tensions in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month. Islamist assailants killed 26 men in the 22 April attack, the worst such violence targeted at civilians in India in nearly two decades.
India said it struck “terrorist infrastructure” where attacks against it were planned and directed. Pakistan’s defence minister has told local media that all sites targeted by India were civilian and not militant camps.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has announced a meeting of the national security committee in Islamabad following the strikes.
Pakistan’s Minister of defence has confirmed at least three civilians, including a child, were killed after India fired missiles at Pakistani territory, according to AFP.
“They have targeted multiple locations, which all are civilian … We have confirmed reports of three civilians killed that includes one child,” Khawaja Muhammad Asif told AFP.
Reuters is reporting that senior Indian officials spoke to counterparts in the US, UK, Saudia Arabia, UAE and Russia to brief them on the steps taken by the military.
A diplomatic official has told the news agency that this included a discussion between India’s national security advisor and US secretary of state Marco Rubio after the strikes took place.
UN secretary-general calls for ‘restraint’
UN secretary general António Guterres is “very concerned” about the Indian military operations across the line of control and the international border, a spokesperson has said.
The UN chief has called for maximum military restrain from both India and Pakistan.
“The secretary-general is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries,” the spokesperson said.
“The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.”
