ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory in at least three locations early Wednesday, killing at a child and wounding two other people, Pakistani security officials said. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants.
The strikes came amid soaring tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied.
The missiles early Wednesday struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to three Pakistani security officials. One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, and a woman and man were injured, one official said.
The officials said Pakistan had launched retaliatory strikes, without providing any details. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record.
India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that at least nine sites were targeted “where terrorist attacks against India have been planned.”
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistan military facilities have been targeted,” the statement said, adding that “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”