Pakistan says India fired ballistic missiles at three air bases inside Pakistan early on Saturday morning. A spokesperson for the army says most of the missiles were intercepted.
State-run Pakistani media says retaliatory strikes were already underway targeting “multiple locations” in India. Pakistani media did not elaborate further on which locations are being attacked.
Islamabad says all its air force assets were safe and no significant damage was caused by the attacks on its bases. Army Spokesperson Ahmad Sharif says the renewed attacks constitute a “provocation of the highest order”.
Indian missiles were aimed at the Nur Khan air base located in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the Murid air base in Chakwal city, and the Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of eastern Punjab province – according to Sharif.
India has not responded to Pakistan’s accusations.
Some of the Indian missiles reportedly hit India’s eastern Punjab province. Sharif added that the projectiles also went into neighbouring Afghanistan. The army spokesperson noted that they are in possession of evidence to back up those claims.
“I want to give you the shocking news that India fired six ballistic missiles from its city of Adampur,” said Sharif. One of the ballistic missiles hit Adampur, the remaining five missiles hit the Indian Punjab area of Amritsar.”
Tensions soared after an attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people on 22 April, mainly tourists. New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for “backing the assault”, claims Pakistan has strongly refuted.
On Wednesday, India carried out airstrikes on multiple locations within Pakistani territory, which it identified as associated with militants, killing 31 civilians, as reported by Pakistani officials. In response, Islamabad said it downed five Indian fighter aircraft.
JD Vance urges both parties to de-escalate
Speaking to US media, Vice President JD Vance said that Washington will not get involved in the conflict between the two South Asian nuclear powers, but stressed that the US is encouraging both parties to seek peace and de-escalate.
“We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business,” said Vance.
Vance noted that Washington cannot tell either country to stop fighting, but will do what it can to achieve peace, through diplomatic channels.
“America can’t tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can’t tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so we’re going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels,” noted Vance.
“Our hope and our expectation is that this is not going to spiral into a broader regional war or, God forbid, a nuclear conflict.”
Additional sources • AP
Discussion about this post