Tensions between India and Pakistan increased further on Friday as New Delhi accused Islamabad of having launched overnight drone and artillery attacks it said it had managed to repel. Pakistan denied the claims. Some 50 people have been killed in the heightening hostilities between the two countries since Wednesday.

Indiasaid Friday it had repulsed a wave of Pakistani drone and artillery attacks overnight, andIslamabadinsisted it had not struck targets across the border, as the latest conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours showedno signs of relenting.

There were also reports of Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanging heavy volleys of shells and gunfire across their frontier inKashmirovernight, killing at least five civilians.

Were used to hearing exchange of fire betweenPakistanand India at the Line of Control, but last night was different, said Mohammad Shakil, who lives near the frontier in Chakothi sector.

In India, a woman was killed and two other civilians were injured in Uri sector, police said.

Dozens dead in three days

At least 50 people have been killed on both sides, mainly in Pakistan, since India launched air strikes on Wednesday targeting terrorist camps and sparking the worst clashes in decades.

Read more'Operation Sindoor': India launches strikes on Pakistan as Islamabad vows retaliation

New Delhi blames Islamabad for backing an April 22 attack near Pahalgam, a tourist town on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir which killed 26 people, almost all of them travellers and Hindu men.

Pakistan denies the claim.

The countries have fought two of their three full-scale wars over Kashmir, a disputed territory that both claim in full but have administered separate portions of since 1947 when the sub-continent was divided into two nations after British colonial rule ended.

Pakistan Armed Forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other munitions along entire Western border on the intervening night of 08 and 09 May, the Indian army said in a statement on Friday.

The drone attacks were effectively repulsed and befitting reply was given, it said.

Islamabad denied launching drone attacks after India on Thursday said Pakistani forces targeted three military stations two in Kashmir and one in the neighbouring state ofPunjab.

Pakistan has not targeted any locations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, or across international border, so far, Pakistans Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said late Thursday.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, a police official said one woman died after heavy overnight shelling in Uri, some 100 kilometres from the state capital Srinagar, and two men were wounded.

Airports, schools closed

Schools were closed on Friday in parts of Kashmir, six border districts in the neighbouring state of Punjab and in the provincial capital Chandigarh, and Rajasthan which also borders Pakistan.

India has also closed 24 airports, but according to local media the suspension on civilian flights may be lifted on Saturday morning.

The majority of the casualties have been in Pakistan, where at least 32 people have been killed, including 12 children.

Islamabad said Thursday its forces had neutralised 29 Israeli-made Harop drones that attacked Pakistan.

The cities targeted included Rawalpindi, headquarters of the military and also the cricket stadium hosting the ongoing Pakistan Super League. The remaining matches of the league have been moved to the United Arab Emirates.

India meanwhile ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed censorship.

The move appears to be part of Indias sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organisations

New Delhi has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taibaa UN-designated terrorist organisation for the April 22 shooting near Pahalgam.

Pakistan has denied involvement and called for an independent investigation.

JD Vance: None of our business

Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries for restraint.

US Secretary of StateMarco Rubiospoke with leaders in both countries Thursday and urged immediate de-escalation, his spokeswoman said.

US Vice PresidentJD Vanceechoed that call but added that Washington was not going to get involved in the middle of a war thats fundamentally none of our business.

Several countries have offered to mediate, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.

Amnesty said the warring sides must take all necessary measures to protect civilians and minimise any suffering and casualties.

Pakistani authorities insist they have the right to retaliate to Indias initial strikes.

In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime MinisterShehbaz Sharifwarned they would avenge those killed by Indian air strikes.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP)

Originally published on France24