India accuses Pakistan of using up to 400 drones to attack cities and bases

India has accused Pakistan of launching an onslaught with up to 400 drones that targeted cities, subject bases and places of worship crossed the northbound of the state connected Thursday night, arsenic the Pakistani subject said it would “not de-escalate with India”.

India claimed to person intercepted hundreds of Pakistani drones, which it said came crossed the borderline into Indian-controlled Kashmir, arsenic good arsenic Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat. It said a archetypal question of drones came connected Thursday evening and different question deed adjacent to dawn connected Friday.

India claimed it had launched 4 drone strikes astatine Pakistan, straight targeting subject defence infrastructure.

In a property league connected Thursday, the Indian subject alleged that Pakistan’s drone attacks connected Thursday had targeted a gurdwara, a Sikh spot of worship, injuring a civilian, and that the drones had besides targeted Christian churches.

“The targeting of temples, gurdwaras, convents is simply a caller debased by Pakistan,” said India’s overseas secretary, Vikram Misri.

Pakistan’s accusation minister, Attaullah Tarar, denied the drone attacks, calling the Indian service connection “baseless and misleading”, and said Pakistan had not undertaken immoderate “offensive actions” wrong Indian-controlled Kashmir oregon beyond Pakistan’s border.

However, a Pakistan information authoritative told the Guardian that Thursday night’s drone strikes were conscionable to “heat things up” earlier Pakistan launched a afloat fledged retaliatory attack. “When we deed back, everyone volition know,” they said.

Misri called Pakistan’s denial of the drone attacks “farcical” and “another illustration of its duplicity”.

The tit-for tat allegations were yet different alarming confrontation betwixt India and Pakistan, 2 nuclear-armed countries, since India’s rocket strikes connected 9 sites successful Pakistan connected Wednesday killed 31 people. Pakistan said it considered the onslaught an “act of war” and vowed to retaliate.

“We volition not de-escalate – with the damages India did connected our side, they should instrumentality a hit,” said Pakistan’s subject spokesperson, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, astatine a media briefing. “So acold we person been protecting ourselves but they volition get an reply successful our ain timing.”

The Pakistani service gave caller details of Wednesday’s strike, successful which it claimed Pakistan had deployed much than 100 planes to ward disconnected the airstrikes by Indian planes that carried retired the attacks from Indian airspace, and said the 2 sides had engaged successful an hour-long aerial dogfight.

A antheral removes debris aft his location was destroyed by Pakistani shelling successful Lagama colony successful Uri, Indian-administered Kashmir. Photograph: Basit Zargar/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

Pakistan claimed it utilized Chinese-made weapons and crushed aerial defences to assistance bring down 5 Indian combatant jets. India has yet to respond to allegations that Pakistan changeable down its planes, but debris of astatine slightest 3 combatant jets, including that of astatine slightest 1 elite French Rafale jet, was seen successful Indian-controlled Kashmir and Punjab.

The worst-affected country successful Thursday’s drone attacks was the metropolis of Jammu, successful India-administered Kashmir, which is adjacent to the enactment of power (LoC), the heavy militarised and volatile borderline dividing the disputed portion of Kashmir betwixt India and Pakistan.

Despite decades of struggle successful the region, radical successful the metropolis said they had ne'er witnessed specified an aerial onslaught. They described seeing a barrage of fiery projectiles streaking crossed the entity arsenic air-raid sirens wailed and the metropolis was plunged into an enforced blackout connected Thursday night.

Videos shared with the Guardian showed glowing orangish dots piercing Jammu’s nighttime entity earlier flashing and fading – astir apt drones intercepted by Indian aerial defence systems. Local officials confirmed debris from the projectiles had been recovered successful a fig of areas, including densely populated neighbourhoods successful and astir Jammu, but nary casualties were reported.

Ajay Lakhotra, a 24-year-old pupil successful Kanachak, a suburban country adjacent to the Pakistan border, said: “We unrecorded adjacent the border, truthful skirmishes and exchanges of gunfire are thing caller to us. But what happened connected Thursday nighttime was extraordinary. We saw fiery objects launching from the Pakistani side; the barrage was truthful intense, it looked similar fireworks lighting up the sky. Flames streaked everywhere. It was terrifying to witness.”

He said it had quietened down aft midnight but restarted astatine 4am. “Most of america couldn’t slumber each night,” said Lakhotra.

Lethal aggression continued on the LoC, arsenic soldiers from some sides continued to occurrence shells and gunfire crossed the border, sidesplitting and injuring civilians. With Pakistan’s threats to retaliate inactive looming large, Indian-administered Kashmir and states crossed bluish India remained connected precocious alert.

The mounting aggressions and allegations person resulted successful a increasing accusation – and disinformation – warfare connected some sides of the border.

India accused Pakistan of a flood of unsafe disinformation and “grossly exaggerated claims” crossed its media, including reports that dozens of Indian drones had been changeable down implicit Pakistan, calling it a “gross misrepresentation of facts”.

“What should person been a infinitesimal of planetary reckoning against panic has alternatively been manipulated into a disinformation war, wherever information is the archetypal casualty,” India’s ministry of accusation and broadcasting said successful a statement.

A information serviceman stands defender adjacent Karachi Port successful Pakistan connected Friday. Photograph: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images

However, mainstream Indian media has besides been flooded with misinformation and fake oregon unsubstantiated reports, including mendacious claims of an onslaught connected Karachi Port, reports of a subject coup and the apprehension of Pakistan’s service chief. Images of Turkish subject unit were broadcast arsenic “captured Pakistani pilots”. Images of almighty weaponry strikes connected Gaza person been wide shared arsenic showing India’s onslaught connected Pakistan.

As portion of its alleged crackdown connected misinformation, India ordered the societal media level X to artifact much than 8,000 accounts, including those of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations, arsenic good arsenic Indian autarkic quality organisations and Indian-Kashmiri journalists.

The determination was confirmed by X successful a statement, which said successful galore cases the Indian authorities had not provided ineligible justification for the blocks.

However, X said it had nary prime but to comply and region the 8,000 accounts oregon it would look “penalties including important fines and imprisonment of the company’s section employees”.