Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan and India accuse each other of waves of drone attacks

Pakistan's army said it shot down 25 Indian drones, while New Delhi accused Islamabad of launching overnight raids with "drones and missiles", and claimed it destroyed an air defence system in Lahore.

The fighting comes two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.

The South Asian neighbours have fought multiple wars over the divided territory since they were carved out of the sub-continent at the end of British rule in 1947.

At least 45 deaths have been reported from both sides following a sharp escalation on Wednesday, when India launched missiles it said targeted "terrorist camps", and Pakistan retaliated with a barrage of artillery strikes.

"Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets... using drones and missiles," India's defence ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding that "these were neutralised".

The defence ministry said earlier its military had "targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan", adding it had been "reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised".

- Blasts heard in Lahore -

Residents reported hearing the sound of blasts from the city, and aviation authorities briefly shut down operations at the main airport there and in the capital, Islamabad.

Karachi airport was also closed and remained so on Thursday evening.

Earlier, Pakistan's military said in a statement that it had "shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones" at multiple locations across the country.

"Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations," Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said from the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi, where a drone was downed.

Crowds gathered at crash sites, some close to army installations, to gaze at the debris.

Emergency responders who were called by the public to the scene in Rawalpindi urged the public "not to panic".

"Let the authorities take care of it. Stay inside," said one emergency worker, 32-year-old Wajid, who only gave one name.

Speaking after the Wednesday missile strike, India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said New Delhi had a "right to respond" following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.

New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- a UN-designated terrorist organisation for the Pahalgam shooting, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.

Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation into the April 22 attack.

- Global pressure -

Pakistan's military said on Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.

An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.

Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.

"I want to see them stop," US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday in New Delhi, days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate.

In Poonch, a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that was bombarded on Wednesday, and bore the brunt of shelling by Pakistan, Madasar Choudhary said his sister saw two children killed by shells.

"She saw two children running out of her neighbour's house and screamed for them to get back inside," said Choudhary, 29.

"But shrapnel hit the children -- and they eventually died."

Based on past conflicts, analyst Happymon Jacob -- director of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defence Research, said the latest would "likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other's territory".

But in an editorial on Thursday, the Indian Express wrote "there is no reason to believe that the Pakistan Army has been chastened by the Indian airstrikes".

"India must be prepared for escalatory action" by Pakistan, it said.

In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned they would "avenge" those killed by Indian air strikes.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar warned Thursday that any Pakistan military action would be met with "a very, very firm response".

burs-fox/stu

A.Suleiman--SF-PST