UPDATE - India says Pakistani 'attempts' to engage military targets 'neutralized'

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY PAKISTANI INFORMATION MINISTER; CHANGES IN HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE AND BODY

By Islamuddin Sajid, Anadolu staff

NEW DELHI / ISLAMABAD (AA) - India on Thursday said Pakistan attempted to strike military targets in northern and western parts of the country with drones and missiles, which were “neutralized.”

“On the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India ... using drones and missiles. These were neutralized by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems,” the Defense Ministry said in the statement.

The ministry said the military targets were engaged in Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj.

It said the debris from these attacks was “now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks.”

The ministry said the Indian armed forces targeted “air defense radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan.”

Indian forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military, the statement said.

It added that 16 people, including three women and five children, have so far been killed in Pakistani firing along the Line of Control, the de facto border, in Jammu and Kashmir.

An Indian soldier was also killed in cross-border fire, the military said Wednesday night.

It was not immediately clear if the soldier was included in the 16 casualties announced by the ministry.

“Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an air defense system at Lahore has been neutralized,” the ministry said.

There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan on the latest statement by the Indian Defense Ministry.

In Islamabad, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told the parliament that armed forces had “killed 40 to 50 Indian soldiers.”

“We killed around 40 to 50 Indian soldiers, destroyed several check posts, including a brigade headquarters during engagement after Indian forces committed ceasefire violation” along the LoC on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

There was no immediate reaction from New Delhi on Tarar’s statement.

Tensions escalated this week after India announced “Operation Sindoor” late Tuesday night, saying it struck "terrorist infrastructure" at nine locations in Pakistan. New Delhi said it exercised its “right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.”

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said "Operation Sindoor" was still "ongoing."

Pakistan said 31 people were killed in the Indian missile attacks and cross-border firing, and vowed to retaliate.

Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday said the forces neutralized 25 Israel-made Harop drones fired by India overnight, calling it a "serious provocation." He said a civilian was killed and four Pakistani soldiers were injured in the drone attacks.