Tensions between India and Pakistan remain high days after Delhi launched airstrikes on its neighbor, sparking tit-for-tat military action from both sides this week and widespread confusion as competing claims and disinformation spread online.
Many countries are calling for restraint, fearing a wider devastating conflict could erupt. And they are also watching closely to see how weapons from both sides, acquired from China and parts of Europe, fare against each other in conflict.
The latest escalation between the longtime foes has killed dozens on both sides so far. India’s initial Wednesday airstrikes killed at least 31 people and wounded 46 others, while Pakistani shelling from across the border have killed at least 16 civilians in the India-administered part of the disputed region of Kashmir, according to military and defense officials from both sides.
Further casualties were reported after both sides alleged drone strikes from the other – though Pakistan has denied carrying out such an attack, and India has not yet responded to the claims. CNN has not been able to independently verify these figures.
Meanwhile on the ground, fear and panic have set in on both sides of the border, especially in Kashmir, with residents sheltering in bunkers and reporting the sounds of explosions. Videos and photos show houses reduced to rubble, and streets deserted as people stay home.
The trigger for all this was a massacre in April that saw gunmen storm a scenic mountain spot in India-administered Kashmir and kill 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, which Islamabad denied.
Here’s what we know so far.
What happened with India’s initial strikes?
India launched “Operation Sindoor” in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time (Tuesday night ET) in both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Indian officials claimed no Pakistani civilian, economic or military sites were struck in the 25-minute operation, which targeted the “terrorist infrastructure” of two militant groups – Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Indian officials argued the strikes were a “proportionate” response to the April massacre, and that Pakistan’s response afterward escalated the situation.
But Pakistan is painting a different picture of the strikes – saying civilians were killed and mosques were hit across six locations. CNN has yet to verify those claims.
Some of those strikes hit the densely populated province of Punjab, Pakistan’s military said, and were the deepest India has struck inside Pakistan since one of their wars in 1971.
How did Pakistan respond? Did it shoot down India’s jets?
After the initial attack on Wednesday, Pakistan claimed it had used Chinese-made fighter jets to shoot down down five Indian Air Force jets – including three Rafales, sophisticated French-made jets that New Delhi only acquired a few years ago.
Uncertainty continues to swirl around these claims, as India’s government and military have stayed silent on the matter. CNN has been unable to verify the claim, and has reached out to the Indian Air Force and Ministry of Defense for comment.
But both the United States and France have assessed that Pakistan shot down at least one Rafale, senior officials from both countries told CNN. France is still investigating whether any more jets were brought down.
And multiple reports of plane crashes in Indian territory have emerged.
In India’s Punjab state, eyewitnesses and a local government official told CNN a plane crashed out of the night sky in the early hours of Wednesday – around the same time Pakistan claims it shot down the jets. The official told CNN the aircraft was unidentified but “seems to be ours.”
In Indian-administered Kashmir, eyewitnesses and a local official in the village of Wuyan said an unidentified aircraft crashed on Wednesday. Photos by AFP news agency showed plane wreckage, though it’s unclear who the aircraft belongs to or what brought it down.
What have both sides done since?
India said on Thursday it has targeted air defense systems in several locations in Pakistan – after initially saying it would not target Pakistani military installations.
On Friday morning both countries alleged the other had launched attacks or carried out firing during the previous night.
The Indian army said its air defenses had been activated over India-administered Kashmir, with residents there reporting hearing nighttime explosions.
But Pakistan denied carrying out such an attack.
CNN has not been able to verify either of these claims, and has reached out to both Pakistani and Indian governments for comment.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s information ministry claimed their forces have killed between 40 and 50 Indian soldiers along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. CNN cannot verify the figures, and has sought comment from the Indian defense ministry.
The ongoing conflict and back-and-forth claims have sowed confusion and disruption on both sides of the border, with blackouts, drills and flight changes impacting daily life.
What prompted all of this? What is Kashmir?
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been a flashpoint in India-Pakistan relations since both countries gained their independence from Britain in 1947.
The two nations to emerge from the bloody partition of British India – Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan – both claim Kashmir in full and, months after becoming independent, fought their first of three wars over the territory.
The divided region is now one of the most militarized places in the world.
India has long accused Pakistan of harboring militant groups there that conduct attacks across the border, something Islamabad has long denied.
The massacre in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam in April sparked widespread anger in India, putting heavy pressure on the Hindu-nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India immediately blamed Islamabad, sparking tit-for-tat retaliatory measures in which both countries downgraded ties, canceled visas for each other’s citizens, and saw India pull out of a key water-sharing treaty.
What could come next?
The last India-Pakistan war over Kashmir in 1999 killed more than 1,000 Pakistani troops, by the most conservative estimates.
In the decades since, the two countries have clashed multiple times, most recently in 2019 when India conducted airstrikes in Pakistan after it blamed Islamabad for a suicide car bomb attack in the region.
But those recent clashes did not explode into all-out war. Both sides are aware of the risks; since 1999, the two countries have worked to strengthen their militaries, including arming themselves with nuclear weapons.
CNN’s Hira Humayun and Nic Robertson contributed to this story.