Pakistan military says wants to avoid escalation with India

Pakistan had "no choice" but to respond to India's attack on its territory but did not want to escalate the crisis and avoided hitting military targets or causing casualties in an air strike earlier on Wednesday, the main military spokesman said.

Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, head of the military press wing, said Pakistani jets had locked on to six targets in a demonstration of their capacity to hit key installations but had deliberately avoided causing any damage.

"We engaged a nearby open space where there were no humans or military installation," he told a news conference in Islamabad.