ISLAMABAD, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has shot down three Indian fighter jets in response to overnight airstrikes carried out by India at five locations in Pakistan, the state broadcaster PTV News reported in the wee hours of Wednesday, citing security sources.

"Pakistani forces are giving a befitting reply to Indian aggression," a military statement said, adding that all PAF aircraft involved in the operation had returned safely.

Eyewitnesses in Rawalpindi, a major city in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, reported seeing a missile in the air, believed to have been launched from within Pakistani territory.

The statement added that Pakistan had also destroyed an Indian brigade headquarters in the retaliatory strike. It did not specify the location of the strike.

The retaliation came after Indian missiles targeted five locations in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur and Sheikhupura districts of the country's eastern Punjab province and Muzaffarabad, Bagh, and Kotli districts of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, told media that at least eight people were killed and 35 others injured in India's "cowardly" missile strikes.

The strikes came as tensions have escalated between the two countries following a deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22. ■