India-Pakistan Tensions LIVE: Pak Shelling Continues To Hit J&K Districts; All-Party Meeting On 'Op Sindoor' Today

A top American military commander has said that the US is “watching the situation very closely” after Indian military strikes on terror targets in PoK and Pakistan's Punjab province.

India launched Operation Sindoor early Wednesday, hitting nine terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan's Punjab province in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.

“It라이브 바카라 right now too early to opine on any of that. We’re watching the situation very closely. We’re nested with our higher headquarters and USINDOPACOM as the information about these strikes becomes more clear,” US Army Pacific Commanding General, General Ronald Clark said during a digital press briefing Wednesday.

The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is one of six geographic Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Armed Forces, headquartered in Hawaii.

Clark was responding to a question on the US view of the developing situation after the strikes by India.

Amid soaring tension between India and Pakistan, all schools in six border districts of Punjab remained shut on Thursday, officials said.

The schools were closed in Ferozepur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts, they said.

The Tarn Taran deputy commissioner issued an order that said all schools in the district will remain closed from May 8 till 11.

In Ferozepur, the authorities ordered closure of schools for the next 72 hours till further orders, officials said.

Schools in Fazilka would also remain closed till further orders, they said.

A drone crashed near the village of Diwalian in the Dhman area of Chakwal on Tuesday, according to police. No casualties were reported in the incident. Law enforcement agencies arrived at the scene and secured the drone's debris, police confirmed. The cause of the crash remains unclear, and an investigation is currently underway.

- Geo TV

In view of the escalating tension, the authorities have ordered that all educational institutions in five border districts of Jammu region will remain closed for the second day on Thursday.

In a post on X, Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar said that all schools, colleges and educational institutions in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts will remain closed for the second day on Thursday in view of the prevailing situation.

The administration in Jammu division has also set up 24x7 control rooms in all the 10 districts of the region.

Thursday's shelling was the 14th consecutive night of firing along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir amid heightened tension following the Pahalgam attack.

Ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border have been very rare after India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021. 

- PTI

Shortly after lights went out in Amritsar as part of a nationwide civil defence mock drill, the district administration again carried out a blackout rehearsal in the early hours of Thursday, urging residents to remain indoors and not panic.

The drill began around 1.30 am.

"Taking utmost caution, the Amritsar district administration has again started the blackout drill," said a message shared by the Amritsar District Public Relations Officer.

"Please stay at home, do not panic, do not gather outside your homes and keep the outside lights of your houses switched off," it said.

The drill was earlier carried out in Amritsar from 10:30 pm to 11 pm.

Read : Fear Sweeps Across Cities In India and Pakistan Amid Viral Hoaxes Of Fresh Attacks

A blast was heard in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday morning, according to broadcaster Geo TV and a Reuters witness, a day after Indian strikes at multiple locations in the country strengthened fears about an escalation of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

- Reuters

The Pakistan Army continued shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in four sectors of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting a befitting response by the Indian Army, officials said on Thursday.

Compared to Wednesday, when the Pakistan Army carried out one of the most intense artillery and mortar shelling in years targeting the forward villages in J-K following missile strikes by India as part of 'Operation Sindoor', the intensity of cross-border firing was less and restricted to four sectors on Thursday, the officials said.

"On the intervening night of May 7 and 8, Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked firing using small arms and artillery guns across the LoC in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor sectors in J-K. The Indian Army responded proportionately," a defence spokesman said in Jammu.

The officials said there was no report of any casualties in the skirmishes.

The worst-hit Poonch sector in Jammu, which recorded 13 deaths in Wednesday's intense shelling, remained by and large peaceful at night, they said.

Indian military carried out a "measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible" strike to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan to "deter and to pre-empt" any further terrorist strikes, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, hours after India retaliated the Pahalgam attack.

Addressing a packed press conference here, Misri said it was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 attack be brought to justice as there was "no demonstrable" step from Islamabad to take action against the terror infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control.

"Our intelligence monitoring of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India were impending," he said at the briefing, which was also addressed by Col. Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.

The foreign secretary's comments came hours after India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir with missiles and drones under an operation christened 'Operation Sindoor'.