LAHORE: A blast was heard in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Thursday morning, according to broadcaster Geo TV and a Reuters witness, a day after Indian strikes at multiple locations in the country.

There was no immediate word on the reason for the blast. India hit “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, two weeks after it accused the nation of involvement in an attack in Kashmir in which 26 people were killed.

Islamabad had denied the accusation and vowed to retaliate to the missile strikes. Pakistan says at least 31 of its civilians were killed and about 50 wounded in the strikes and in cross-border shelling that followed, while India says 13 of its civilians died and 43 were wounded.

The cross-border exchange of fire tapered off slightly overnight, Indian officials said. India also conducted blackout drills in regions close to its border with Pakistan, including the northern city of Amritsar.

In Pakistan, meanwhile, most cities restored some normalcy and children returned to school, but in the border province of Punjab, hospitals and civil defence authorities remained on high alert.

Although Pakistan’s government has pledged to respond to India’s strikes, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told The New York Times on Wednesday that Pakistan was ready to de-escalate.

With India saying it would “respond” if Pakistan “responds”, global powers have urged a calming of tensions.US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped the countries could “work it out”, adding he “will be there” if he can help.

The current escalation in tensions comes at a precarious time for Pakistan’s $350 billion economy, which is still recovering from an economic crisis that brought it to the brink of defaulting on external debt obligations in 2023 before it secured funding from the International Monetary Fund.