India Launches Air Strikes On Pakistani Territory

Indian Mirage 2000 jets flying in formation (Picture: Indian Air Force).

India is contradicting Pakistani claims that an air strike it launched on a Pakistan-controlled sector of Kashmir caused no casualties.

Pakistan said India launched an air strike on its territory early on Tuesday that caused no casualties, while India said it targeted a terrorist training camp in a pre-emptive strike that killed a "very large number" of militants.

Indian television channels have reported unidentified government sources as saying multiple targets were destroyed during the air raid involving a dozen Mirage jets.

The overnight raid was the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals since a deadly militant attack in the disputed Kashmir region earlier this month killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.

Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack but has vowed to respond to any Indian military operation against it.

The February 14 attack in Indian-ruled Kashmir was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the 1989 insurgency in Kashmir and came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the middle of a re-election campaign.

In the last year an increasingly bloody crackdown on insurgents in Indian-ruled Kashmir has escalated tensions in the troubled region.

Kashmir has been the cause of two previous wars between the neighbouring countries.

They fought a third war in 1979 over East Pakistan, which gained its independence with the help of India and became Bangladesh.