India said it attacked nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday where strikes against it had been planned, and Pakistan reported at least three people died and 12 were injured, according to an initial assessment.
The offensive occurred amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan said India launched missiles at three places, but an Indian government statement did not detail the nature of the strikes.
"A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched 'OPERATION SINDOOR', hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the Indian statement said.
"Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution," it said.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemns" the Indian attack.
A Pakistani military spokesman told broadcaster Geo that Pakistan's response was under way, without giving details. The spokesman said five places were hit including two mosques and reported three deaths and 12 people injured.
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After the explosions, power was blacked out in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, witnesses said.
Witnesses and one police officer at two sites on the frontier in Indian Kashmir said they heard loud explosions and intense artillery shelling as well as jets in the air.
India blamed Pakistan for the violence last month in which 26 men were killed and vowed to respond. Pakistan denied that it had anything to do with the killings and said that it had intelligence that India was planning to attack.
After India's strikes, the Indian army said in a post on X on Wednesday: "Justice is served."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is very concerned about Indian military operations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, his spokesperson said on Tuesday while calling for maximum military restraint from India and Pakistan.
"The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries," the spokesperson said.
"The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan."