India, Pakistan step up military strikes
ISLAMABAD/JAMMU, INDIA—Pakistan and India launched strikes and counterstrikes against each other’s military installations on Saturday, prompting US calls for the nuclear-armed neighbors to begin talks and defuse their escalating conflict.
Fears that the countries’ nuclear arsenals might come into play spiked when the Pakistan military said a top military and civil body overseeing its nuclear weapons would meet, but the defense minister later said no such meeting was scheduled.
Pakistan early on Saturday said it had targeted multiple bases in India, including a missile storage site in India’s north, in response to prior attacks by the Indian military.
India said there was limited damage to equipment and personnel at four air force stations.
The military said there were several high-speed missile attacks on air bases in Punjab state and that India had responded to the attacks.
Five civilians were killed in the attacks in the Jammu region of Indian Kashmir, regional police said.
Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part.
Blasts rang out across Indian Kashmir and the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in neighboring Punjab until early morning on Saturday.
Jammu streets were empty hours after loud blasts were heard and projectiles were seen flying across the city sky.
“Jammu city has never been hit before. Never thought we will be hit like this,” said 60-year-old Rajeev Gupta, whose brother was wounded by a shell.
Daily exchanges
Pakistan said that, before its offensive, India had fired missiles at three air bases, including one close to the capital, Islamabad, but Pakistani air defenses intercepted most of them.
Locked in a longstanding dispute over Kashmir, the two countries have engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday when India launched strikes inside Pakistan on what it called “terrorist infrastructure.”
Pakistan vowed to retaliate.
Pakistan’s information minister said in a post on X that Saturday’s military operation was named “Operation Bunyanun Marsoos.”
The term is taken from the Koran and means a firm, united structure.
India has said its strikes on Wednesday, which started the latest round of clashes that have left more than 50 people dead in both countries, were in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
Pakistan denied India’s accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack.
Since Wednesday, the two countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling, and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace.
Despite growing Western calls for peace, defense experts said the opposite seemed to be happening.
“Operations moving to next level—free use of missiles and drones by both sides,” said Pravin Sawhney, a defense author and former Indian Army officer. “And reports that Pakistan Army is moving troops forward. Not good indications of what lies ahead!”
Nuclear conflict
Officials from both sides showed a willingness for now to take a step back following the day’s exchanges.
Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, told local television that if India stops here, then “we will consider to stop here.”
The Indian military said regarding Pakistan’s military attacks on Saturday that “all hostile actions have been effectively countered and responded to appropriately.”
Analysts and diplomats have long feared that conflict between the rivals could escalate into the use of nuclear weapons, in one of the world’s most dangerous and most populated nuclear flashpoint regions.
Unlike India, Pakistan does not have a no-first-use doctrine.
