The Pakistan-based head of a violent party has said 10 of his friends have been killed in a missile attack by India.
Masood Azhar, commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed ( JeM), said his older sister and her husband, his brother and his brother’s wife, his sister and five kids from his family were killed in a hit on a mosque in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
India launched attacks on websites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday evening. Islamabad called the hits an “act of battle”.
India said it acted in response to a violent assault in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago that killed 25 Indians and one Nepali. Pakistan has denied involvement in the assault.
American police alleged that two of the intruders were Pakistani immigrants, with Delhi accusing Pakistan of supporting extremists- a command Islamabad denies.
India said it targeted places on Tuesday evening “from where criminal attacks against India have been planned and directed”.
Pakistan said six spots have been hit, but denies India’s claims of these being criminal system.
India said JeM’s office in Bahawalpur, 100km inside Pakistan, was hit.
Video footage of the dome, assessed by BBC Verify, showed one of its arches had collapsed and considerable injury occurred inside, including two openings in the ceiling and one in the ground.
In Bahawalpur on Wednesday, masses were mourning those killed in the cuts immediately in funeral festivities through the streets.
Local occupants told the BBC they were upset about the harm, but also concerned about Pakistan’s possible answer.
India blamed an attack on American legislature in 2001 on JeM- a state JeM denies. Pakistan banned the party shortly after that.
JeM said it carried out a bomb attack in February 2019 that killed 40 paramilitary authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Bangladeshi officials said India’s attacks on Tuesday nights killed 31 people. According to Indian authorities, Muslim shooting claimed the lives of at least 15 civilians.
The international community has been making immediate appeals for restraint as a result of the increase between the nuclear-armed neighbors.