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India says repulsed fresh Pakistan attacks as de-escalation efforts grow / Photo: © AFP
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India says repulsed fresh Pakistan attacks as de-escalation efforts grow
India said Friday it had repulsed a wave of Pakistani drone and artillery attacks overnight, and Islamabad insisted it had not struck targets across the border, as the latest conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours showed no signs of relenting.
Nearly 50 people have been killed on both sides, mainly in Pakistan, since India launched air strikes on Wednesday targeting "terrorist camps" and sparking the worst clashes in decades.
New Delhi blames Islamabad for backing an April 22 attack near Pahalgam, a tourist town on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir which killed 26 people, almost all of them travellers and Hindu men.
Pakistan denies the claim.
The countries have fought two of their three full-scale wars over Kashmir, a disputed territory that both claim in full but have administered separate portions of since 1947 when the sub-continent was divided into two nations after British colonial rule ended.
"Pakistan Armed Forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other munitions along entire Western border on the intervening night of 08 and 09 May," the Indian army said in a statement on Friday.
"The drone attacks were effectively repulsed and befitting reply was given," it said.
Islamabad denied launching drone attacks after India on Thursday said Pakistani forces targeted three military stations -- two in Kashmir and one in the neighbouring state of Punjab.
"Pakistan has not targeted any locations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, or across international border, so far," Pakistan's Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said late Thursday.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, a police official said one woman died after heavy overnight shelling in Uri, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the state capital Srinagar, and two men were wounded.
- Airports, schools closed' -
Schools were closed on Friday in parts of Kashmir, six border districts in the neighbouring state of Punjab and in the provincial capital Chandigarh, and Rajasthan which also borders Pakistan.
India has also closed 24 airports, but according to local media the suspension on civilian flights may be lifted on Saturday morning.
The majority of the casualties have been in Pakistan, where at least 32 people have been killed, including 12 children.
Islamabad said Thursday its forces had neutralised 29 Israeli-made Harop drones that attacked Pakistan.
The cities targeted included Rawalpindi, headquarters of the military and also the cricket stadium hosting the ongoing Pakistan Super League.
The remaining matches of the league have been moved to the United Arab Emirates.
Indian cricket bosses will decide Friday what happens to the rest of their IPL season, a senior official said, in the face of the deadly confrontations.
A match in Dharamsala -- less than 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Jammu, where explosions were reported hours earlier -- was abandoned late Thursday because of apparent floodlight failure.
India meanwhile ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed "censorship".
The move appears to be part of India's sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations
New Delhi has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- a UN-designated terrorist organisation for the April 22 shooting near Pahalgam.
Pakistan has denied involvement and called for an independent investigation.
- 'Immediate de-escalation' -
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with leaders in both countries Thursday and urged "immediate de-escalation", his spokeswoman said.
US Vice President JD Vance echoed that call but added that Washington was "not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business".
Several countries have offered to mediate, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.
Amnesty said the warring sides "must take all necessary measures to protect civilians and minimise any suffering and casualties".
Pakistani authorities insist they have the right to retaliate to India's initial strikes.
In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned they would "avenge" those killed by Indian air strikes.
burs-ach/fox
C. Fournier--BTZ
