We’re building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more.

Pakistan’s National Security Committee has authorised its armed forces to respond to Indian military strikes on nine sites in the country and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India said the “focused, measured” action, which it named Operation Sindoor, had targeted terrorist camps in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistan acknowledged the strikes but claimed they hit civilian infrastructure. Reports suggested that 26 Pakistanis were killed in the attack.

were later killed in cross-border shelling in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch. Ajaz Ahmed Jan, the Poonch Haveli MLA, told Scroll that he visited the Poonch district hospital where nine of those killed were taken. Two of them were children.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said earlier in the day that Islamabad was open to de-escalation if India backed down. More than from North and Central Indian airports were cancelled on Wednesday amid changing airspace restrictions.

The terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on April 22 had left 26 dead and 17 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed...