Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan ‘on the brink of an all-out war’ after strikes
Gergana Krasteva
India and Pakistan exchange major cross-border strikes, with both sides targeting military bases after Pakistan launched a new military operation, Bunyan-un-Marsoos.
More than a dozen civilians killed in Kashmir, as artillery and missile fire continue overnight.
Both nations signal conditional willingness to deescalate.
Global powers urge restraint between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India and Pakistan – two nuclear-armed neighbours – are teetering on the brink of an all-out war after a dramatic escalation of strikes today.
Medium-range Fateh missiles were unleashed towards at least 25 military sites in India, including airbases and weapons depots in the Indian states of Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and India-administered Kashmir.
The strikes – part of the newly-launched military operation, named Bunyan-un-Marsoos, meaning ‘solid wall of steel’ – were in response to attacks on Pakistani territory this week.
Shortly afterwards, India targeted multiple military bases in Pakistan, citing ‘blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions’ along the western borders.
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Migrants wait to board a train at the Jammu Tawi railway station in Jammu on May 10, 2025, amid the ongoing border tensions between India and Pakistan after the Kashmir tourist attack. Pakistan and India on May 10 stepped up missile, drone and artillery attacks in a fourth straight day of conflict, as the US urged both sides to restore dialogue to "avoid miscalculation". (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
Scores of people are attempting to flee bombed territory amid the ongoing border tensions between India and Pakistan (Picture: AP)
Overnight, Indian and Pakistani troops also exchanged artillery and gunfire along the Line of Control that divides the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistan’s disaster authority confirmed that 13 civilians have been killed and more than 50 injured in Kashmir in past 12 hours.
The heavy cross-border violence escalate the volatile standoff sparked by last month’s attack on tourists by five armed militants near Pahalgam in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed.
Both nations have signalled a willingness to de-escalate if the other halts further aggression.
Migrants try to board an overcrowded train as they leave the city at the Jammu Tawi railway station in Jammu on May 10, 2025, amid the ongoing border tensions between India and Pakistan after the Kashmir tourist attack. Pakistan and India on May 10 stepped up missile, drone and artillery attacks in a fourth straight day of conflict, as the US urged both sides to restore dialogue to "avoid miscalculation". (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
People try to board an overcrowded train as they leave the city at the Jammu Tawi railway station (Picture: AFP)
Yet, military mobilisations on the border and a retaliatory rhetoric suggest a deepening crisis with no clear cut-off.
Former Pakistan national security adviser, Moeed Yusuf, warned that ‘we are on the brink of an all-out war’.
He told SkyNews: ‘This is not a good situation, the world must wake up to the reality that two nuclear powers are on the brink of an all-out war.’
Yusuf claimed Pakistan ‘never wanted to escalate’ tensions and said now is the time for the two sides to ‘sit down and talk’.
He added: ‘I think the view in Pakistan is that enough is enough. We are not sacrificial lambs, we will stand up. If India does not respond now, I am sure Pakistan will say thank you, that is it.’
Hours after carrying out strikes on India, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said his country would consider de-escalation if India stopped further attacks.
Earlier, he told Pakistan’s Geo News: ‘We responded because our patience had reached its limit. If they stop here, we will also consider stopping.’
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif also told his country’s political leaders ‘we have given India a befitting response’.
epa12088007 Indian Civil Defense volunteers and security personnel stand outside a damaged house after cross-border shelling from Pakistan, at Jammu town in Jammu and Kashmir, India, 10 May 2025. According to the Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, provocative and escalatory actions that Pakistan took on the night of 09 May were targeted at Indian cities and civilian infrastructure, in addition to some military targets, and the Indian Armed Forces responded proportionately, adequately, and responsibly. EPA/MUKESH
Indian Civil Defence volunteers and security personnel stand outside a damaged house after cross-border shelling from Pakistan, at Jammu town in Jammu and Kashmir (Picture: EPA)
India has also said it is committed to ‘non-escalation’, providing that rival forces reciprocated.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh warned: ‘Indian armed forces remain in a high state of operational readiness.’
US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke to Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir on Friday to offer American assistance ‘in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts’.
He spoke to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, stressing that ‘both sides need to identify methods to de-escalate and re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation,’ State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Saturday.
Villagers use sacks filled with sand to protectively surround parts of a projectile intercepted by the Indian Army in Wadala Bhattewad village near Amritsar, India, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)
Villagers use sacks filled with sand to protectively surround parts of a projectile intercepted by the Indian Army in Wadala Bhattewad village near Amritsar, India, Saturday, May 10, 2025 (Picture: AP)
The Group of Seven (G7) major economies had earlier called for maximum restraint from India and Pakistan, urging the neighbours to engage in direct dialogue.
‘Further military escalation poses a serious threat to regional stability. We are deeply concerned for the safety of civilians on both sides,’ according to the statement, which was posted in the official website of the government of Canada, a member of the G7.
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