PAKISTAN AND INDIA SLIDE TOWARDS ALL-OUT WAR AFTER NEW WAVE OF STRIKES
India and Pakistan inched perilously close to all-out war on Saturday morning after the pair exchanged missile fire in the latest escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed states.
Pakistan fired retaliatory missiles at India’s Amritsar and Jammu City on Saturday, hours after New Delhi reportedly attacked three Pakistani bases with projectiles.
Air bases in Nur Khan, Murid and Shorkot were targeted by missiles, Pakistan’s military spokesman said in a live broadcast aired by state television.
Islamabad said most of the missiles were intercepted as state TV accused India of “naked aggression” and warned New Delhi: “Now you just wait for our response”.
Pakistan has closed its airspace until noon on Saturday (8am UK).
Its army released a video appearing to show a missile launched towards Indian targets on Saturday morning.
It followed a wave of Pakistani missile and drone attacks on Indian cities and came after several explosions were reported at an airport in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
On Friday, it was revealed that Indian warships equipped with supersonic cruise missiles have in the past few days moved closer to Pakistan.
An Indian defence source said that New Delhi had moved its western fleet closer to the northern Arabian Sea, placing it within striking range of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest port.
“We are alert and ready to counter any threat from the adversary. The movement of the warplanes and other naval assets is for monitoring and deterrence,” the source told The Telegraph.
The ships are in international waters, where they are likely to remain. The manoeuvre is understood to have begun eight days ago.
The strike group includes an aircraft carrier, destroyers, frigates and anti-submarine ships and is roughly 300-400 miles from the Pakistani coast.
Some of the vessels are carrying the partly Russian-developed BrahMos missile, which carries a 300kg warhead and is capable of travelling at speeds of up to Mach 3 to strike targets up to 500 miles away.
Analysts have warned that striking Karachi could have catastrophic consequences for Pakistan, as the port handles 60 per cent of the country’s trade as well as its naval headquarters.
News of the naval deployment, first reported by the Times of India, came after New Delhi said it had intercepted Pakistani missile and drone attacks on 15 cities across its northern and western regions.
On Friday night, 10 explosions were reported around Srinagar International Airport in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
It is understood that Pakistani drones were targeting sites in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the neighbouring Punjab state, according to Reuters.
Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir was plunged into darkness on Friday after blasts were heard in the region and alarms sounded, officials said.
Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Indian administered Kashmir, wrote in a post on X: “Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am.”
Intense shelling from both sides was also last night along the line of control.
In response, New Delhi said it hit Pakistan’s air defence systems in Lahore. Pakistan reported no damage, denied carrying out any attack on India and said it had intercepted 48 drones in the latest wave of attacks.
India’s military struck sites in Pakistan on May 7 in response to the April 22 terror attack, in which 26 people were killed after gunmen opened fire on a tourist site in Pahalgam in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
India claims that the strikes, carried out by about 80 jets, destroyed nine terrorist camps, but Pakistan said 31 civilians were killed and that mosques and a power plant were targeted.
Pakistan said it had shot down multiple Indian warplanes during the bombardment, including three French-built Rafale fighter jets.
At a Pakistani military briefing in the city of Rawalpindi, the army’s spokesman suggested that aggressive retaliation was to come.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan would respond to India at a “time, method and place of our choosing”.
“They want to set a new norm,” he added. “Will we allow this to happen?”
Holding up pictures of Pakistani children killed in the Indian strikes, Mr Chaudhry said: “Remember these pictures when you ask us what Pakistan is going to do.”
Cross-border shelling since May 7 has killed almost two dozen civilians near the Line of Control, the militarised boundary dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
On Friday David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, spoke to his Pakistani counterpart to offer condolences for the loss of civilian casualties and urge both countries to de-escalate.
Mr Lammy later discussed “countering terrorism” with the Indian foreign minister.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Friday that “India’s reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.
The Indian Premier League cricket series was suspended for one week on Friday owing to the spiralling tensions.
2025-05-09T16:04:53Z