India and Pakistan near all-out war after air base strikes
India and Pakistan near all-out war after air base strikes
Key moments
Updated 7 minutes ago2:46amSenior Indian official killed2:31amCyberattack ‘disables 70pc of India’s power grid’2:23am‘Missile storage site destroyed’1:50amPakistan says it is retaliating
Pakistan is retaliating with missile strikes on India after it accused its neighbour of attacking air bases, as the two countries slide closer to all-out war.
Powerful explosions from Indian missiles struck multiple Pakistani air bases early on Saturday morning, quickly prompting Islamabad to announce counter-attacks on its neighbour’s military sites including a nuclear storage facility.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, India’s defence spokeswoman, confirmed Pakistan had damaged equipment and injured personnel at bases in Udhampur, Bhuj, Pathankot, and Bathinda.
Indian targets were hit “with precision”, Pakistani senator Sherry Rehman said, adding that the action was in retaliation for “unprovoked” attacks on civilians.
Pakistan’s prime minister has called an extraordinary meeting of the civil-military authority responsible for decisions about nuclear weapons.
A senior Indian civil servant was among reported casualties in Indian-administered Kashmir, while Pakistan also claimed to have successfully shut down the majority of India’s power grid.
India said its strikes on Wednesday were retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month. Pakistan has denied India’s accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack.
Samaan Lateef. Andrea Hamblin. Josh White
10 May 2025 6:56am
India counts 26 targets
This morning’s strikes Pakistan damaged equipment and injured personnel at Indian Air Force bases in Udhampur, Bhuj, Pathankot, and Bathinda, according to New Delhi’s defence spokeswoman.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said Pakistani forces used drones, loitering munitions, long-range weapons and fighter jets to target more than 26 Indian military sites.
“Pakistani army is continuously attacking the western borders; it has used drones, long-range weapons, loitering munitions and fighter jets to attack India’s military sites,” she said at a press conference in New Delhi.
“They used high-speed missiles.. to target Punjab’s air base.”
She added that Pakistan “even attacked health facilities and schools”.
Pakistan has said it only targeted military sites.
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Beijing urges calm
China has urged India and Pakistan to avoid an escalation in fighting.
“We strongly call on both India and Pakistan to give priority to peace and stability, remain calm and restrained, return to the track of political settlement through peaceful means and avoid taking actions that further escalate tensions,” a statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
“China is closely monitoring the current situation between India and Pakistan,” the foreign ministry said in a post published on its website.
Watch: India strikes Pakistan’s Nur Khan air base
Pictured: Cars destroyed in Jammu
‘Our patience has run out’
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country was taking “revenge” after having “exhibited a lot of patience so far”.
“There is a threshold which we cannot go beyond, especially when it comes to hypocrisy and double standards,” Mr Dar told Geo News.
“The action that the Pakistan civil military leadership has taken is proportionate.
“Many more actions can be taken, and we are ready for that, but this is minimum action being taken just now which will be continued for a while.”
He added: “Our patience has been tested and has run out, and the actions that have been taken are retaliatory and defensive, the world can see that,” Mr Dar
Pakistani drones ‘shot down over Amritsar’
New Delhi said its military shot down multiple armed drones launched from Pakistan over Amritsar early Saturday, calling the incursion a “blatant attempt” to violate India’s sovereignty and endanger civilians.
The Indian Army’s public information wing, ADGPI, said in a statement on X that several enemy drones were detected around 5am over Khasa Cantonment in Punjab in north India. Air defence units immediately engaged and destroyed them.
“Pakistan’s blatant escalation with drone strikes and other munitions continues along our western borders,” ADGPI said.
The Army also released footage showing one of the intercepted drones mid-flight, moments before it was brought down.
“Indian Army will thwart enemy designs,” the post said.
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Pakistan says military response was act of self-defence
Pakistan’s armed forces are on high alert and fully prepared amid rising regional tensions, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said, defending the country’s military action as self-defence.
In an interview with Geo News, Mr Dar accused India of carrying out covert missile and drone attacks on Pakistani territory over the past 48 hours, describing the strikes as a “continuous stream of lies and provocations.”
“We cannot afford to take any risks,” he said. “Pakistan will not stand idle while India escalates. Our response has been measured and defensive.”
He called on the international community to intervene and “make India realise the gravity of its mistakes,” adding, “Victory will be Pakistan’s.”
US offered help
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir on Friday and urged both Pakistan and India to find ways to de-escalate, a spokesperson for the Department Of State in Washington said.
Mr Rubio also offered US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts, they said.
Pictured: site of drone attack in Jammu, India
Special security meeting called
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a National Command Authority (NCA) meeting for Saturday amid heightened tensions with India, state broadcaster PTV said.
The NCA is the authority responsible for safeguarding national security and for decisions over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.
Senior Indian official killed
A senior Indian civil servant was killed on Saturday when a shell fired struck his residence in Rajouri, in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Raj Kumar Thappa, the additional district development commissioner for Rajouri, died amid ongoing cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani forces.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke rising over the town following a loud explosion.
“Devastating news from Rajouri,” Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister Omar Abdullah wrote on X.
“Just yesterday he was accompanying the Deputy CM around the district. Today his residence was hit by Pakistani shelling… I have no words to express my shock and sadness.”
G7 calls for ‘maximum restraint’
The G7 has called for “immediate de-escalation” and “maximum restraint” following the latest exchange of fire.
“Further military escalation poses a serious threat to regional stability,” the foreign ministers of the seven wealthy democracies said in a statement, adding that both sides should “engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome.”
Pakistan claims cyberattack disabled 70pc of India’s power grid
Pakistan has claimed it disabled 70 per cent of India’s power grid in a large-scale cyberattack as part of its ongoing retaliatory campaign against Indian military targets, according to state broadcasters PTV News and Radio Pakistan.
“Darkness falls in India,” PTV declared in its report, offering no technical details or independent verification of the alleged breach.
Pictured: Pakistani security patrol airbases
