ON THE EDGE
Watch moment India ‘strikes Pakistan airbase with ballistic missile’ in huge explosion as nations on brink of war
The old foes have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan
THIS is the moment India blitzes a Pakistani airbase as the two nations stand on the edge of war.
Pakistan said two other airbases had also been struck - which prompted them to shut down airspace over the country shortly after.
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Dramatic footage showed an Indian "ballistic missile" striking Pakistan's Nur Khan Airbase, just outside the capital Islamabad in the early hours of Saturday.
A Pakistani military spokesperson warned: "Now just wait for our response."
Tensions are ratcheting up as the two nations launch tit-for-tat attacks while edging closer to all out war.
The strike came mere hours after at least 10 explosions were reportedly heard near the Srinagar International Airport in India-controlled Kashmir, according to Indian officials.
It also came after blackouts were issued and sirens were heard amid reports of incoming drone attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian defence sources said a new wave of drone attacks targeted Indian Kashmir for a second straight evening Friday, including the city of Jammu.
One Indian military official said: "Drones have been sighted in Jammu, Samba" in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pathankot in the neighbouring state of Punjab.
"They are being engaged."
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It is understood that a barrage of attack drones targeted at least 26 locations ranging from Baramulla in the North to Bhuj in the South, along both the International Border and the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Explosions were also heard in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the neighbouring Punjab state, as well as in the Jaisalmer region of Jaipur.
Why an India Pakistan war is a nuke timebomb with a terrifying threat to millions
Indian-run Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on X: "Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am" in Jammu.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, which dismissed Indian accusations that it had launched attacks on the same area on Thursday night.
Heavy shelling and artillery firing are currently underway alongside the Line of Control (LOC) and in the international border that divides India and Pakistan.
Both sides have reported casualties amid the heavy exchange of fire.
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India has also deployed its naval strike group near the north Arabian Sea - moving the fleet closer to Pakistan and putting it within the striking range of the Karachi Port, according to .
The carrier strike group includes aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, destroyers, frigates and anti-submarine ships.
Most of the vessels in the fleet are also equipped with BrahMos missiles, which can carry a 300kg warhead and are capable of travelling at speeds of up to Mach 3 to strike targets up to 500 miles away.
The Karachi Port in the southern part of Pakistan handles almost 60 per cent of the country's trade - and an attack on the port could mean catastrophic consequences for Islamabad.
Last night, India claimed some 300-400 drones were launched by Pakistan targeting several military installations across the region.
The attack was intended to check air defence systems and their response, according to intelligence officials.
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In its latest press briefing, the Indian foreign ministry and military forces said that the drones were of Turkish origin, according to preliminary reports.
Pakistan has denied launching such attacks on Indian military installations.
In response to the drone attack, India launched a barrage of drone strikes targeting Pakistani military installations.
The retaliatory attack destroyed one air defence system, Indian Air Force officer Vyomika Singh told a media briefing.
Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had dismissed earlier Indian accusations of Pakistani attacks as "baseless and misleading" and said Pakistan had not carried out any "offensive actions".
Meanwhile, India accused Pakistan of using civilian planes as “shields” during its air assault.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said: “Pakistan launched an unprovoked aerial assault, targeting Indian territory with drones and missiles.
“But Pakistan did not close its civilian airspace, so that commercial flights would become shields against any counterstrike.”
How nuclear war could kill 125 million?
By James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
INDIA and Pakistan are being urged to step back from armageddon as a nuclear war between the two rivals could kill 125million people.
The fighting neighbours are trading rocket and artillery attacks in an overnight blitz, leaving dozens dead and fears of all-out conflict.
Now, fears are abound that fighting could escalate to the use of nuclear weapons and kill tens of millions.
Peace campaigners like the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons are "gravely concerned" and have called for the two sides to step back from the brink.
And Colonel Philip Ingram, a former British Army commander, said the West will be particularly nervous about a nuclear conflict.
Ingram told The Sun: "Western intelligence in particular will be focused on the readiness and the outloading of nuclear stocks inside both Pakistan and India and monitoring what's happening to them very closely indeed.
"The worrying thing about these two nations is that the tensions are very real.
"The nuclear weapons are not there to protect them against attack from China or Russia or anyone else. It's focused purely on each other."
Ingram said escalation to using nuclear weapons could happen rapidly and powers like the US would step in to try and prevent their use.
He said: "The US Secretary of State, flying into India and Pakistan, would carry out shuttle diplomacy between the two."
But that might not be enough to overcome the animosity between the two enemies and their desire to escalate the conflict.
Xiaodon Liang, a Senior Policy Analyst, Nuclear Weapons Policy and Disarmament, at Arms Control Association also said the primary concern should be the possibility of a battlefield use escalating to "strategic nuclear exchanges".
Liang said: "Pakistan has made very clear that it will use nuclear weapons to prevent a full-scale Indian invasion of its territory, and the potential for uncontrollable escalation is part of what makes every crisis between India and Pakistan particularly dangerous."
Pakistan’s military officials projected a stance that suggested the military escalation between the two countries may not end soon.
Lt. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Pakistani army’s chief spokesman, said: “So, at a time, place, and method of our choosing, we will do whatever we will do. We are not beholden to anyone else but the people of Pakistan.”
The old foes have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for a deadly terrorist attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
India blames Pakistan for the attack — a charge Islamabad denies.
In response, India launched “Operation Sindoor” on Wednesday, blitzing nine targets across Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Among them was the headquarters of terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), where India claims to have killed Abdul Rauf Azhar— a top JeM commander and the man linked to the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
“India has killed the brutal terrorist assassin Abdul Rauf Azhar, whose psychopathic beheading of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 we all remember,” said former US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
“Justice has been served.”
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Pakistan has yet to confirm his death.
Both countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace.
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified.
Sirens had blared for more than two hours earlier on Friday in in Amritsar, which houses the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs.
Schools and coaching centres were closed in the Bikaner region of India's desert state of Rajasthan, and residents near the Pakistan border said they were asked to move further away and consider moving in with relatives or using accommodation arranged by the government.
Further south in Bhuj in Gujarat, authorities said tourist buses had been kept on standby in case they needed to evacuate people near the Pakistan border.
Following India's military strike deep inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed revenge, saying: “I promise that we will take revenge for every drop of blood of these victims.”
The Pakistani Defence Minister also issued a chilling nuclear warning: “If they aggravate this then if a chance of war arises in which there is a sign of nuclear option being used on both sides, then the responsibility for that will be on India.”
India struck back diplomatically, branding Pakistan the “epicentre of global terrorism.”
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: “I don’t need to remind the audience where bin Laden was found.”
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US President Donald Trump said he is prepared to do “anything to help,” while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged “urgent dialogue” to avoid catastrophe.
Beijing, which supplies almost 80 per cent of Pakistan’s weapons, has so far stayed quiet, saying only that it is “not familiar with the situation.”
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