NEW DELHI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Amid escalating tensions, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will hold large-scale military drills on Wednesday in the western state of Rajasthan, along the international border with Pakistan, local media reports said Tuesday.

"The drills will begin at 9:30 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday and end around five-and-a-half hours later. Flights departing or landing at the airport close to the border will be suspended," a New Delhi-based television news channel NDTV said, quoting a NOTAM, or Notice to Airmen, issued Tuesday evening.

Another media report said a two-day mega military exercise will involve all the frontline fighter jets, including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft.

Separately, states are scheduled to conduct mock drills on Wednesday to evaluate civil defence preparedness. Officials said a civil defence exercise and rehearsal across the 244 categorized civil defence districts will be organised.

According to state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR), the mock drill will assess the effectiveness of air raid warning systems, the operationalization of hotline or radio communication links with the IAF, besides testing the functionality of control rooms.

"The exercise also includes training of civilians and students on civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack. Besides the provision of crash blackout measures, provision for early camouflaging of vital installations and update of the evacuation plan and its rehearsal are also included in the mock drill," the broadcaster said.

The war games are being conducted amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over last month's attack in which gunmen killed 26 people in Baisaran area of Pahalgam town, about 89 km east of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting the gunmen behind the attack, a charge denied by it.

The Indian government on Wednesday confirmed carrying out air strikes on nine identified "terrorist-training camps" located in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally monitored the air strikes, according to Indian media reports.

The air strikes were carried out under "Operation Sindoor," which was dedicated to the women whose husbands were killed in the Pahalgam area of the Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, the reports said.

"Altogether nine sites have been targeted. Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India had demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and method of execution," India's Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

The director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said that at least eight civilians, including a child, were killed, 35 others injured and two missing after India fired missiles at multiple locations in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan has shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation for overnight airstrikes conducted by India at multiple locations within Pakistan, the country's defence minister said early Wednesday.

Pakistan's foreign office called it an unprovoked and blatant act of aggression, denouncing the strikes as a "flagrant violation of the UN charter, international law, and established norms of inter-state relations."

"India's reckless action has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict," said the foreign office, emphasizing that Pakistan reserves the right to respond "at a time and place of its choosing." ■