Islamabad - India launched missiles at multiple locations earlier on Wednesday, killing at least 26 people, including children, in what Pakistani leaders called an act of war.

India says it attacks infrastructure used by militants Massacre of tourists in India-controlled section in Kashmir last month.

Pakistan said it had shot down Indian fighter jets several times in retaliation, with three planes landing on a village in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Indian police and medical staff said at least seven civilians were killed in the area by Pakistan shelling.

Tensions among nuclear-armed neighbors have soared since the attack by gunmen in a popular grassland on Kashmir’s disputed territory, mostly by Hindu tourists, and in some cases, killing people in front of his wife’s eyes.

Islamabad denies India’s support for Pakistan’s support for the attack.

Kashmir is divided between the two countries, but each claiming its entire claim to be the center of tensions for decades, and they have fought for two wars.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Wednesday's air strikes and said his country would retaliate.

"Pakistan has the right to respond strongly to this act of war committed by India and has indeed received a strong response," Sharif said.

The country's National Security Council met on Wednesday morning, and Pakistan summoned India's allegations to raise protests.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special meeting of the Cabinet Security Committee.

A source told Reuters Modi that he delayed his trip to Croatia, the Netherlands and Norway.

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South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said it was one of India's highest intensity strikes against rivals in years, and Pakistan's response "would certainly hit a punch."

"These are two powerful armies, even with nuclear weapons as deterrents, are not afraid to deploy a considerable amount of conventional military forces to each other," Kugman said. "The risk of escalation is real. They are likely to increase, and very quickly."

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum restraint because the world cannot "bear the military confrontation between India and Pakistan," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement late Tuesday.

Civil defense drills are planned later on Wednesday to train civilians and security personnel to respond in the case of any “hostile attacks”, the ministry said in a statement. Such exercises are rare in India during non-crisis times.

Indian politicians from different political parties praised the strike. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh wrote on X: "The victory of Indian mother."

India's main opposition Congress party called on state unity and expressed "very proud" of the country's military. Congressional Party Chairman Mallikarjun Kharge said: “We appreciate their firm determination and courage.”

Details of military operations

The Indian army said the operation was called "sindoor", a Hindi word, a bright red vermilion powder worn by married Indian women on the forehead and hair, referring to the woman whose husbands were killed in front of them.

Pakistan's military spokesman Lieutenant Ahmed Sharif said Indian missiles attacked at least 26 people, including women and children, at six locations in Pakistan-managed Kashmir and the country's eastern Punjab province.

Officials said another 38 people were injured on the strike and five more people were killed in Pakistan amid fires across the border later that day.

Sharif said the Indian jets also damaged the infrastructure of the Pakistan-managed Kashmir Dam, saying it violated international norms.

The Indian Ministry of Defense said the strikes against at least nine locations "planned terrorist attacks on India."

"Our actions have been essentially focused on nature. There are no military facilities targeting Pakistan," the statement said.

Pakistan said the strikes hit at least two sites previously associated with banned militant groups.

One of them attacked the Subhan Mosque in Bahawalpur, Punjab, killing 13 people, including one child, said Zohaib Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital.

The mosque is almost a seminary, once the central office of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a radical group that was banned in 2002.

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar claimed in a statement obtained by CBS News that the attack in India killed 10 of his family members and four close associates. He criticized Modi and said: "This cruel limitation breaks all restrictions and is no longer mercy."

Another missile attacked a mosque in Muridke, destroying its structure. Until 2013, Pakistan banned the group and arrested its founder, a sprawling building located nearby was the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The attack on tourists last month was claimed by a group that called itself the Kashmir Resistance Movement, which India said was also known as the Resistance Front, and was linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In Muzaffarabad, a major city in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions when the explosion swept through the house. He saw people fall into panic and the authorities immediately cut power in the area.

People take shelter in the streets and open areas, worried about what to expect. "We are worried that the next missile may hit our house," Mohammad Ashraf said.

Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool, who lives near the mosque, told CBS News: "When a huge explosion happened, we were about to go to bed. It was a very big and horrible explosion."

A large number of fires were carried out along the control line that allocated disputed areas in Kashmir to disputed areas between India and Pakistan.

Indian police and medical personnel said seven civilians were killed and 30 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Ponich area near the highly militarized Line of Control, a de facto border between the two countries in disputed Kashmir. Several houses hit by the shelling were also damaged, officials said.

Indian troops said Pakistani forces “requested to arbitrary fire”, including gunfire and shells, across the border.

Shortly after India's strike, the plane landed on three villages in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan military spokesman Sharif said the country's air force shot down five Indian aircraft in retaliation for the strike. India did not immediately comment on Pakistan’s claims.

Srinagar Police Department and residents said debris from a plane were scattered in Wayan village on the outskirts of the area's main urban areas, including at schools and mosque compound. Firefighters struggled for hours to put out the fire.

"There was a fire in the sky. Then we heard a few explosions," said Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a Wuyang resident.

Another plane landed in an open field in the village of Bhardha Kalan, near the control line in Kashmir, controlled by India.

Country resident Sachin Kumar told the Associated Press that he heard a huge explosion, followed by a fire.

Kumar said he and several other villagers rushed to the scene and found two injured pilots. Both were later taken away by Indian troops.

A police station crashed on a farm in northern northern India and the police station told the Associated Press on anonymous because they did not have the right to talk to the media. The official did not provide any further details.

Response to other countries

President Trump called the strike "shameful" in his speech at the Oval Office reporter on Tuesday.

"We just heard about it when we walked into the oval door," Trump said. "I think people know that something will happen based on a little bit of the past. They've been fighting for a long time.

After India's strike, China called on both sides to restrain themselves.

"China regrets India's military actions this morning and is concerned about the current developments. China opposes all forms of terrorism," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "We call on India and Pakistan to prioritize peace and stability, maintain calmness and restraint and avoid action to complicate the situation."

So far, Beijing is Pakistan’s largest investor, with the country spanning $65 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. At the same time, China has also made several border claims with India, one of which is in the northeast of Kashmir.

French news agency AFP reported that British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told BR on Wednesday that the UK is "friends of both countries and we are ready to support both countries. Both are interested in regional stability, dialogue, downgrades and anything we can do, we can support it here, we are here and willing."

Moscow on Wednesday called on India and Pakistan to show "restraint", AFP said.