India launches missile attacks on Pakistan

India has launched strikes on several parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled territory, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

In an assault India dubbed “Operation Sindoor,” the Indian military said it struck nine sites in “Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed.”

The Indian Defense Ministry said the strikes were in response to a militant attack that killed 26 people in India-administered Kashmir last month.

Tensions have been on the rise between India and Pakistan since April 22, when gunmen killed at least 26 tourists and injured a dozen others in India-administered Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of having a connection to the attack — the worst aimed at Indian civilians in more than a decade.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned India’s attacks, which were overnight in early hours Wednesday local time, and vowed that Pakistan would respond forcefully.

“The enemy has once again shown its deceitful nature,” Sharif said, according to Pakistan’s Geo News.

President Trump was asked by a reporter about the attack at the White House.

“It’s a shame, we just heard about it just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval,” Trump said. “They’ve been fighting for a long time,” he said. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”