India says it launched strikes in Pakistan-controlled areas

India launched missiles over the border into Pakistani-controlled territory in at least three areas early Wednesday. India claimed to have struck terrorist infrastructure.

According to India, the missile attacks early Wednesday morning targeted "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Kashmir, which is governed by Pakistan. Pakistan has refuted the accusation, claiming that the assault mostly targeted civilians, killing at least three, including a toddler, and wounded at least a dozen.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the country had the right to respond to what he described as a “act of war,” adding that a “befitting reply is being given.”

Kashmir is one of the world's most hazardous flashpoints, governed in part by India and Pakistan, yet both claim the full territory.

The attacks occurred amid rising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals following last month's terrorist attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of sponsoring the terrorist strike, which Islamabad denies.

According to three Pakistani security sources, the missiles launched early Wednesday impacted areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country's eastern Punjab region.

Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated in recent weeks, following a fatal spree by gunmen who killed 26 people, the most of whom were Indian tourists, at a picturesque site in Kashmir.

Major foreign countries, including the United States, urged patience in the weeks following last month's attack on tourists, fearing that a military battle between India and Pakistan over Kashmir might soon escalate.

Since gaining independence from Britain about 80 years ago, the two nuclear-armed foes have fought three wars over the mountainous terrain now separated by a de facto border known as the Line of Control (LOC).

In the days following the Pahalgam incident, both countries quickly cut connections with each other and have since engaged in growing tit-for-tat hostility.

India ordered its nationals to return from Pakistan, closed a major border crossing, and halted its participation in a critical water-sharing arrangement that has been in effect since 1960.

Pakistan has banned trade with India and removed Indian officials. It stated that any effort to block or divert water belonging to Pakistan would be regarded a "act of war."

As tensions simmered along the LOC, New Delhi and Islamabad both flexed their military might, with limited exchanges of fire across the line in recent days. Both sides have also restricted their airspace to one another's planes.

According to a statement released by India's Defense Ministry on Wednesday, at least nine places 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.”