By Aftab Ahmed, Charlotte Greenfield and Shivam Patel
JAMMU, India/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Blasts rang out across Indian Kashmir and the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in neighbouring Punjab state late on Friday, with the Indian military saying it was shooting down drones in the worst fighting with Pakistan in nearly three decades.
The explosions in Amritsar – the first heard there in the three-day-old conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours – could mark a further expansion in the hostilities that have alarmed world powers.
Projectiles and flashes were seen in the night sky above the Indian Kashmir city of Jammu. It was plunged into a blackout on the second night of blasts in the region’s winter capital, officials and a Reuters journalist said.
“Drones have been sighted … They are being engaged,” said an Indian military official who asked not to be named.
The Indian army said in a statement late on Friday that drones were sighted in 26 locations across a wide area of India’s west and northwest from Kashmir and states bordering Pakistan to the edge of the Arabian Sea.
Ten blasts were heard near the airport in the Indian Kashmir city of Srinagar and there were explosions in more locations in the contested region, other security officials added.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. It had dismissed Indian accusations that it launched attacks on the same area on Thursday night.
The old foes have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan denied Indian accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack. The two countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling, and they have sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace.
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified. The Indian army said on Friday a family was severely injured by an armed drone in Ferozepur in India’s Punjab state near the Pakistani border.
Tourists and villagers fled border zones, residents rushed to stockpile food and people were told to stay indoors in Kashmir and beyond. India’s cricket board on Friday suspended the IPL – the sport’s richest tournament – and the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining eight matches.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times.
In Washington, the White House said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in constant contact with the leaders of both countries and reiterated that President Donald Trump wants to see the conflict de-escalate.
CLASHING ACCUSATIONS
India responded with drones on targets in Pakistan and destroyed one air defence system, Indian Air Force officer Vyomika Singh told a media briefing.
Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had dismissed earlier Indian accusations of Pakistani attacks as “baseless and misleading” and said Pakistan had not carried out any “offensive actions”.
In Pakistani Kashmir, officials said heavy shelling from across the border killed five civilians, including an infant, and wounded 29 others in the early hours of Friday.
The fighting is the deadliest since a limited conflict between the two countries in Kashmir’s Kargil region in 1999.
Sirens blared for more than two hours earlier on Friday in Amritsar, which houses the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs.
Tourists fled the city by road as the airport was closed.
“We really wanted to stay but the loud sounds, sirens, and blackouts are giving us sleepless nights. Our families back home are worried for us so we have booked a cab and are leaving,” said a British national who did not want to be named.
Schools and coaching centres were closed in the Bikaner region of India’s desert state of Rajasthan, and residents near the Pakistan border said they were told to consider moving in with relatives elsewhere or using government-arranged accommodation.
Further south in Bhuj in Gujarat, authorities said tourist buses were on standby in case they needed to evacuate people near the Pakistan border.
Indian shares fell for a second straight session on Friday, losing about $83 billion in market value, with both key stock indexes down 1.1%.
Pakistan’s benchmark share index closed 3.52% higher with traders crediting a fall off in violence in Pakistani territory after Thursday’s clashes.
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed in Jammu, Charlotte Greenfield, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Saurabh Sharma in Amritsar, Rupam Jain in New Delhi, Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Fayaz Bukhari in Srinagar,; Additional reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Writing by Sakshi Dayal, YP Rajesh and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Andrew Heavens and Daniel Wallis)
