May 9, 2025 - India-Pakistan news

Our live coverage of the conflict between India and Pakistan has moved here.

India’s military said it destroyed drones “and other munitions” fired by Pakistan along the country’s western border as conflict continued to escalate between the two neighbors on Saturday local time.

Multiple “armed drones” were spotted flying over a military base in Amritsar in India’s Punjab state early Saturday morning local time, the army said.

“The hostile drones were instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units,” it added.

The statement comes hours after Pakistan said it launched a retaliatory military operation against India early Saturday in response to “Indian aggression,” after it said India launched missiles at key military bases.

The Pakistani military claimed it hit multiple targets in India and India-administered Kashmir. CNN cannot independently verify Pakistan’s claim regarding India’s strikes.

CNN has reached out to India’s Ministry of Defense and the Indian Air Force for a response.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistani army chief Asim Munir on Friday and offered US mediation, according to a State Department readout.

Rubio “continued to urge both parties to find ways to deescalate,” the readout said, adding that he offered US assistance “in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the country’s highest decision-making authority on nuclear and missile policy issues, the military said in a statement.

“Prime Minister has called the meeting of National Command Authority,” the statement said.

India is currently responding to Pakistani attacks, an Indian official with knowledge of the matter told CNN’s Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance.

“All Pakistani attacks are being responded to appropriately by the Indian Armed Forces,” the official said.

The Pakistani military said early Saturday it had begun an operation against India in retaliation against recent “Indian aggression,” saying India had launched missiles at key military bases.

Pakistan’s military claims it has hit multiple targets in India and India-administered Kashmir.

Here are some Indian military targets they say they have struck:

Most of these locations are near or along the de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir region between New Delhi and Islamabad. Pathankot, in Punjab state, and Suratgarh, in Rajasthan state, are airfields inside India’s undisputed borders.

The Pakistan military said that, in an “eye for eye” retaliation, they targeted the Indian air bases that were used to launch missiles against Pakistan. CNN cannot independently verify Pakistan’s claim regarding India’s strikes. CNN has reached out to India’s Ministry of Defense and the Indian Air Force for a response.

This post was updated with additional information.

The Pakistani military said it has begun an operation against India in retaliation to recent “Indian aggression.”

“Pakistan responds!!” the military said, calling its retaliation “Operation Bunyanun Marsoos.”

The name references a Quranic verse, and means “unbreakable wall.”

“Brahmos storage site has been taken out,” the military said Saturday morning local time, adding that attacks on various other places are in progress.

More background: The BrahMos is a long-range supersonic cruise missile.

Multiple Indian targets were struck using Pakistan’s Fatah-1 missile system, security sources told CNN.

Pakistan also said it had hit India’s Pathankot air field and Udhampur Air Force Station.

The Pakistani military said that, in an “eye for eye” retaliation, they targeted the Indian air bases that were used to launch missiles on Pakistan.

CNN cannot independently verify Pakistan’s claim regarding India’s strikes. CNN has reached out to India’s Ministry of Defense and the Indian Air Force for a response.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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Smoke seen above an Indian military base in Udhampur

00:23 • Source: CNN

Smoke seen above an Indian military base in Udhampur

00:23

Pakistani military has started its retaliation against “Indian aggression,” Pakistan state TV announced on Saturday.

The announcement came shortly after Pakistan said India had attacked several of its military air bases.

CNN cannot independently verify this claim. CNN has reached out to India’s Ministry of Defense and the Indian Air Force for a response.

Right after Pakistan claimed India had attacked its bases, the Government of Pakistan posted on X to say that “India must now prepare for Pakistan’s response.”

The post has been updated with additional information.

Foreign ministers of the G7 countries along with European Union released a joint statement urging India and Pakistan to exercise “maximum restraint” and called for “immediate deescalation.”

The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Pakistan closed its airspace to all air traffic on Saturday, according to a Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) spokesperson.

The closure, which started at 3:15 a.m. local time (6.15 p.m. Friday EST), will apply to all civilian flights in the country until noon local time Saturday.

The announcement comes after Pakistan said India launched missiles at several key military bases in Pakistan, including targeting Nur Khan Airbase close to the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan said India fired missiles at key military bases in Pakistan, including targeting a base close to the capital, Islamabad.

“India hit Nur Khan Air Base, Shorkot Air Base and Murid Air Base from their jets, all were intercepted. India also launched missiles and drones at Afghanistan,” Chaudhry said in a live broadcast aired by state television.

Pakistan’s air defenses “successfully intercepted cruise missiles fired at Rafiqui Air Force Base in Shorkot,” Chaudhry added.

CNN cannot independently verify the Pakistani military claim. CNN is seeking comment from the Indian military.

What to know about the location: Nur Khan base is near the Pakistan’s Army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi. It is the air base used by foreign dignitaries and military chiefs when traveling from and to Pakistan’s capital.

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Video footage appears to show strike on Pakistani military base

00:20 • Source: CNN

Video footage appears to show strike on Pakistani military base

00:20

India will share details of its losses in its standoff with Pakistan “when appropriate,” an Indian official told CNN.

Some context: Pakistan claims it shot down five Indian fighter jets during recent Indian strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir amid rising tensions after last month’s terror attack in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians.

Indian officials have so far either denied the loss of aircraft or refused to comment. CNN has not been able to independently verify Pakistan’s claims it shot down five fighter jets.

Dozens of family members and neighbors are seen trying to shelter in the basement of Dr. Daoud’s family home, in Khuiratta, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, on May 9.

Dr. Zeshan Daoud was awoken by thunderous bombardment Wednesday morning local time, before the power cut out and darkness descended on his family home in Khuiratta, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Moments earlier, his sister’s “densely populated” neighborhood in Kotli city, further north, had also been struck, the 32-year-old doctor told CNN on Friday.

India launched strikes deep into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Wednesday in the wake of a tourist massacre last month in the idyllic tourist spot of Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir.

What followed were three days of “fresh horror,” the doctor recalled, as he and his six family members — aged between five and 73 — became trapped in a cycle of “destruction,” “fear” and “loss,” that has gripped the Pakistan-administered region since early Wednesday.

As Islamabad and New Delhi traded accusations over drone and artillery attacks, civilians say they are bearing the brunt of the worst fighting in almost three decades over the long-disputed Kashmir region.

“People in this region are incredibly resilient, but no parent wants to see their child live or die through this kind of terror. The trauma of these nights will linger far beyond the conflict,” Daoud said.

The remaining eight matches of the Pakistan Super League’s HBL PSL X have been postponed due to “worsening” conditions around the Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Earlier on Friday the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament announced it had suspended play for one week due to heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

People record with their phones as India's air defense system intercept objects in the sky during a blackout following multiple blasts in India-administered Jammu on May 9.

Blackouts have been reported in several cities in India and India-administered Kashmir as two airlines canceled flights to several Indian cities.

In Srinagar, in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, two residents described to CNN the “complete blackout” happening in the city amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

A 30-year-old tourism professional near Srinagar’s Dal Lake told CNN the “complete blackout” they are experiencing “isn’t a new phenomenon” for those living in the city.

Another man, who lives near Srinagar’s airport, told CNN that he heard three of four blasts nearby while he was staying at his home with his parents.

A blackout was also reported today in the Indian city of Ferozepur, located close to the border with Pakistan in the western part of India’s Punjab province.

The Indian army “neutralized” drones striking the city from neighboring Pakistan, senior police official Bhupinder Singh Sidhu told reporters. At least three people were injured, likely with “burn injuries,” Sidhu added.

CNN has reached out to Pakistani authorities about the claim.

Blackouts are also being imposed “until further notice” in the Kachch District, located in the western Indian state of Gujarat, according to the Gujarat chief minister’s office. Other villages, including ones in the districts of Patan and Banaskantha, are also experiencing blackouts.

Flight cancellations: India’s flag carrier, Air India, and budget Indian airline IndiGo, both announced today they were canceling flights into several Indian cities, including Srinagar, until at least Thursday.

CNN has reached out to police in Srinagar for comment.

Two people living in Pathankot, in the Indian state of Punjab, spoke to CNN about the blackout happening in their city.

Forty-year-old Ranbir Singh, who was at home with his wife and kids when the “complete blackout” happened, said they “aren’t scared” because this is the second time such a blackout has happened.

A 39-year-old doctor working at a government hospital in Pathankot told CNN on Friday that the hospital is still running during the blackout, but “shops closed early and people are indoors, so that’s good, but of course there is still fear, these aren’t normal circumstances.”

“We’ve heard about 30 to 40 blast-like sounds over the last hour alone,” the doctor added.

Drones have been seen in Pathankot, according to Suneel Bartwal, a defense spokesperson based in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.

A man walks through a deserted street near the Line of Control border dividing Kashmir near Srinagar, India, on May 9.

Cross-border shelling by India killed five people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir overnight, according to the region’s prime minister, raising the total death toll since Wednesday in Pakistan and the Pakistan-administered region to 36 people.

Anwarul Haq, the leader of Azad Kashmir, which is the name given to the Pakistan-administered part of the divided region, warned that New Delhi’s latest salvo and Islamabad’s retaliatory attacks have “now escalated into a wartime situation” He added that those communities closest to the border are “bearing the brunt.”

Hundreds evacuated: He said at least 510 people have been evacuated from three sectors along the de factor border dividing Kashmir, known as the Line of Control.

Communities in both India and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir have been forced to flee their homes or shelter in bunkers in recent days, after New Delhi launched a series of strikes deep into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Pakistan proper.

Remember: India said it launched the military operation in response to a shooting massacre in the idyllic tourist spot of Pahalgam, where gunmen killed more than two dozen tourists. Islamabad has vehemently denied involvement.

New Delhi’s initial strikes on Wednesday, local time, wounded at least another 46 people, Pakistani officials reported. Pakistani shelling has so far killed at least 16 civilians in the India-administered part of Kashmir, according to Indian authorities.

The sound of explosions resumed in Jammu city today, along with a blackout, according to the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir on X.

Omar Abdullah said that he heard sirens across the city as well as “intermittent sounds of blasts.”

Drones have been sighted in Indian-administered cities of Jammu and Samba and in the city of Pathankot in the Indian state of Punjab, “and they are being engaged,” according to Suneel Bartwal, defense spokesperson based in Jammu.

Pathankot and Samba are also experiencing blackouts, according to Bartwal.

Shelling was additionally reported in Uri, a border town 102 kilometers (63 miles) north of city of Srinagar, also in Indian-administered Kashmir, a police official told CNN on Friday.

It is unclear what is causing the reported sounds of explosions. It comes as India and Pakistan repeatedly accuse the other of launching attacks since their conflict escalated Wednesday local time.

Pakistan targeted 36 Indian sites with 300 to 400 drones overnight on Thursday into Friday, an Indian military official said, an assertion denied by Islamabad.

According to Indian military official Vyomika Singh, Pakistan’s military carried out multiple violations of Indian air space along the entire western border, with military infrastructure the intended target.

She added that India’s armed forces brought down “a number” of these drones. In response, India launched drones at four air defense sites in Pakistan, she said.

What Pakistan says: Speaking to CNN on Friday, a senior Pakistani government source strongly denied that Pakistan had launched drone strikes against India. While acknowledging heavy shelling across the Line of Control, the source said Pakistan had not yet used any of its drones.

Singh also said that Pakistan’s military fired heavy-caliber artillery guns and armed drones across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, resulting in the deaths and injuries of some Indian army personnel. She added that Pakistan’s army also suffered “major losses” in Indian retaliatory fire.

Photos show the aftermath at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, where an Indian drone fell yesterday, killing one man — a vendor — and injuring two others.

Shrapnel marks are splattered on a wall, seen along with shattered glass and twisted metal.

Rawalpindi lies adjacent to the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan’s military said its armed forces downed over two dozen Indian drones on Thursday.

Watch CNN’s Nic Robertson on the scene: