India launches strikes in Pakistan controlled Kashmir

India’s army said it carried out “surgical strikes” overnight against suspected militants across its de facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir, as Pakistan reported that two of its soldiers were killed in an “unprovoked” attack.

The air strikes follow an attack on an army base in India controlled Kashmir, which killed 18 troops on 18 September. India blamed Pakistan, for the attack and Pakistan denied the claim.

India’s director general of military operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, said: “Significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them.”

Pakistan dismissed India’s claim that it carried out air strikes against “terrorist launch pads”.

The Pakistani military said in a statement: "The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists' bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by India to create false effects."

Pakistan said its soldiers died in an "unprovoked" attack along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir and nine soldiers were wounded in the strikes, which happened at five sites along the disputed border.

Lt Gen Singh also said Pakistan was "unable to control terror activities in territories under its control".

"Based on receiving specific and credible inputs that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along Line of Control to carry out infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states, the Indian army conducted surgical strikes at several of these launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists".

India and Pakistan claim Kashmir as their territory and currently govern separate parts. Since independence from Britain in 1947, the two nuclear-armed countries have fought three wars, two over Kashmir.

The strikes have raised the prospect of heightened military activity between the two nations which would ruin a cease-fire agreed in 2003.

India also said it would boycott a summit in Islamabad in November in response to the attack on the army base in Kashmir, which was followed by Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.