Fresh Pakistani drone attacks in Indian Kashmir: source

A new wave of drone attacks targeted Indian-administered Kashmir for a second straight evening on Friday, including the city of Jammu, an Indian defense source told AFP, after Pakistan earlier denied carrying out such attacks.

The source said "drones have been sighted in Jammu, Samba" in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pathankot in the neighboring state of Punjab, adding: "They are being engaged".

Indian-administered Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on X: "Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am" in Jammu, adding that there was a blackout in the city.

AFP journalists on the ground reported heavy artillery shelling in the village of Poonch near the border.

On a third day of tit-for-tat exchanges, the Indian army said it had "repulsed" waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a "befitting reply".

Pakistan's military spokesman on Friday denied Islamabad carried out such attacks.

It is the most serious confrontation in decades between the two countries, which have fought two full-scale wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir -- which is divided between the two.

An Indian army spokeswoman on Friday spoke of "300-400" Pakistani drones being fired but it was impossible to verify that claim independently.