Pakistan strikes sites inside India, bringing nuclear rivals nearer to war

An Indian Air Force fighter jet in the sky as the tension remains high between India and Pakistan. Photo / Getty Images

• Pakistan’s military targeted Indian sites after India fired missiles at three Pakistani airbases.
• The conflict has escalated tensions, with both countries blaming each other for civilian casualties.
• The Group of Seven nations urged de-escalation and direct dialogue for a peaceful resolution.

Pakistan’s armed forces say they are targeting military sites in India after the latter fired missiles at three airbases in Pakistan’s Punjab province early Saturday, bringing the nuclear-armed rivals closer to war.

Several of the sites Pakistan said it targeted early Saturday were located in the Indian state of Punjab. Pakistani attacks on India’s heartland will be seen as more serious in New Delhi than military action in Indian-administered Kashmir and are likely to raise the likelihood of an escalation, analysts said.

The Indian Government did not immediately issue an official response. An Indian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations, said Pakistan attacked Indian military establishments and civilian areas with missiles and fighter jets.

Indian Air Force soldiers arrive at Wuyan area of Pampore. Pakistan says India’s recent actions are “pushing the whole region toward dangerous war”. Photo / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

The scope of the casualties and damage was not immediately clear. Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a territory administered by India, said one government official was killed after his government home was hit by shelling from Pakistan.

Pakistan justified Saturday’s military action by framing it as retaliation for New Delhi’s attacks on Wednesday, which were the deepest and deadliest strikes inside Pakistan in more than 50 years.

Before Pakistan’s military action early Saturday, Pakistan’s chief military spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry also said India had targeted Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi, Murid airbase in Chakwal and Rafiqui airbase near Shorkot with air-to-surface missiles. Most of the missiles, he said in a later appearance, were intercepted and there were no casualties or damage.

India’s actions, he said, were “pushing the whole region toward dangerous war”, and he vowed a firm response.

The media wing of Pakistan’s military, soon after, said the armed forces were targeting Indian military sites and claimed to have struck multiple locations.

In Srinagar, a site in Indian-administered Kashmir that Pakistani officials said they were targeting, residents heard at least five blasts in the early morning.

“I was sleeping when loud blasts shook me awake,” said Abid, a resident who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used for fear of reprisal. Over the next 20 minutes, the detonations appeared to come closer, suggesting that multiple targets may have been struck.

Over four nights of conflict, each country has portrayed the other as the aggressor, trading blame for civilians coming under fire along the Line of Control that separates Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and for apparent drone and missile attacks.

New Delhi framed its strikes on Wednesday as retaliation for the April 22 rampage by gunmen in a tourist area in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people – the deadliest assault on Indian civilians in more than 15 years.

Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations on Friday issued a call for de-escalation and said the two countries should “engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome”.

On Friday, Pakistan’s military said it had shot down a total of 77 drones in the conflict, while India’s Defence Ministry said Pakistan targeted 36 locations, including civilian infrastructure, with up to 400 drones – many of which it claimed to have shot down. India said some of its soldiers had been killed, without providing further details.