India launches missile strikes against Pakistan after tourist massacre by gunmen

The decades-long feud between India and Pakistan broke out into a military attack after a lethal attack on tourists in a region administered by India.

Indian officials said on Wednesday (local time) they ordered missile strikes on what they identified as "terrorist infrastructure" of nine locations. The attack was a response to a massacre of tourists in Kashmir last month that was attributed to a Kashmir resistance group.

'This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.'

“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” read a statement from India’s Ministry of Defence. “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution."

In April, gunmen opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, a Indian-administered part of Kashmir, and killed 26 tourists. Kashmir is a disputed region that is claimed by both countries but only controlled in part since the partition of British India in 1947.

Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry released a statement vowing that the country would retaliate.

“Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing,” said Chaudhry. “This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.”

Pakistani sources told CNN that three of the affected sites — Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh — were in the Pakistani-administered portion of Kashmir, while two of the locations — Ahmadpur East and Muridke — were in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Three people were killed in the attack, including one child, according to Pakistani officials.

India did not publicly blame the Pakistani government for the tourist massacre but said that the strikes were in response to the government's “support for cross-border terrorism.” The Resistance Front initially claimed responsibility and then reportedly walked back the claim.

The escalation of the feud between the two countries is especially alarming because they are both armed with nuclear weapons. The two nations have fought for control of Kashmir ever since 1947, making it one of the most militarized places in the world.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif denied the claim from India that they had struck terrorist sites and called on international media to visit the sites to document that they were targeting civilians.

President Donald Trump offered some comments about the altercation from the Oval Office.

“It’s a shame. We just heard about it, just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval, just heard about it," said Trump.

"I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time, you know. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries,” he added. “I just hope it ends very quickly."

Pakistan's prime minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, said the strikes were an act of war.

“The enemy will never be allowed to succeed in his nefarious objectives," Sharif said.

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