The military conflict between India and Pakistan hit a sharply higher level of intensity early Saturday as the Pakistani military accused India of attacking at least three of its air bases, and then reported that it had retaliated by targeting Indian air bases and a missile storage site.
The reported exchange of strikes was a sharp escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors four days into an armed confrontation that began on Wednesday.
Pakistan said India had targeted its bases with air-to-surface missiles. Among the bases that came under attack, Pakistan said, was a key installation near the capital, Islamabad. Witnesses in Rawalpindi, a nearby garrison city, reported hearing at least three loud explosions near the Noor Khan air base, with one describing a “large fireball” visible from miles away.
“Now, you just wait for our response,” Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Pakistani military’s chief spokesman, said in a televised statement. He accused India of pushing the region toward a “dangerous war.”
Shortly after the reported Indian strikes, Pakistani officials said they had launched a retaliatory action using short-range surface-to-surface missiles, targeting several locations in India that included the Udhampur and Pathankot air bases and a missile storage facility.
“An eye for an eye,” the Pakistani military said in a statement. It said it was calling its campaign against India “Operation Bunyan al-Marsus,” which means a firm and compact structure.
Local media also reported early Saturday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had summoned a meeting of the National Command Authority — the nerve center of Pakistan’s nuclear command and strategic deterrence policy. Established in 2000, the body is chaired by the prime minister and includes senior civilian ministers and military chiefs.
After several days of shelling and drone attacks, India and Pakistan, old enemies, are engaged in their most expansive military conflict in decades. And they are using new tools of war to enhance their ability to attack and spy on each other.
On Friday, Indian defense officials said Pakistan’s military had attempted aerial intrusions in 36 locations with “300 to 400” drones to test India’s air-defense system.
A day earlier, Pakistani military officials said they had shot down 25 drones belonging to India, including in Karachi and Rawalpindi, the headquarters of Pakistan’s main intelligence body. Pakistani officials also told U.S. officials that India was engaging in “drone terrorism” by targeting civilian areas, according to a statement. India has not commented on the drones.
Although many countries now have drones in their arsenals, this is the first time the unmanned aerial vehicles are being used by the two countries against each other. The use of drone warfare may have been inevitable, but it could reshape the way the world views hostilities between India and Pakistan, much as it did after the two countries became nuclear powers in the 1990s.
The conflict began after militants killed 26 people last month in India-controlled Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of being behind the attack and vowed to take military action. Pakistan has denied involvement.
The conflict has escalated since Wednesday, when India conducted airstrikes on Pakistan. Since then, the two countries have been locked in an intensifying exchange of gunfire, drone attacks, claims, counterclaims and misinformation.
Diplomatic pressure, notably from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has not worked. And the two countries have largely ignored statements from the United States and Europe calling for calm.
In a statement on Friday, foreign ministers from the Group of 7 industrialized nations urged “maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan” and warned that “further military escalation poses a serious threat to regional stability.”
Raj Shukla, a retired commander in the Indian Army, said India had been building its supply of drones. So-called loitering munitions, which hover over a target and strike at an optimal moment, “are, in fact, a secret weapon in our armory; we’ve never used them before.”
Both India and Pakistan have been developing their respective drone-building industries in recent years, and both import drones from foreign allies. But neither country appears to have any that can carry nuclear warheads, said James Patton Rogers, a drone warfare expert at Cornell University. And while he called the conflict “incredibly worrying,” he also noted that drones generally are used as the lowest possible escalatory step in a conflict, usually to pressure and test an opponent’s air defenses.
The combat has widened and intensified since Wednesday morning, when airstrikes by India hit targets inside Pakistan and in the Pakistan-controlled side of Kashmir. Pakistan said it hit back by downing five Indian jets. Heavy fighting broke out on Thursday night along the 460-mile border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Jammu, a city in the India-controlled side of Kashmir, was under a complete blackout, but residents said they had seen drones and missiles fly overhead and had heard artillery fire. Shelling and gunfire along the border, which started on Wednesday night, resumed on Thursday night, stopping Friday morning.
The city was under a blackout on Friday night, as well, said Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a territory under the Indian government’s direct control. “Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am,” Mr. Abdullah posted on X.
Both sides have said that the gunfire exchanges killed or injured civilians. The information could not be independently verified.
Speaking on Friday morning, residents in both parts of Kashmir said they were exhausted; some said it was the worst shelling they had experienced in nearly three decades.
“We’re fed up with running every time the shelling begins,” said Atta Mohammad, 70, a resident of Uri, a town on the Indian side of Kashmir. “It’s better that both countries go for a nuclear war and kill us all. At least that will rid us of this suffering.”
In Bandli village, in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, hundreds of people gathered on Friday afternoon to attend the funeral prayers of Usman Khalid, 26, who was killed in the cross-border shelling.
“Several bombs and missiles rained down on our village,” said Tauqeer Ahmed, a Bandli resident. Mr. Ahmed added that many residents had stocked up on food and essentials, uncertain of how long the tensions would last.
Sarvan Singh Pandher, a farmer who lives in Punjab, a state in India about 12 miles from the border with Pakistan, expressed worries about the conflict’s escalating and unpredictable nature.
“There is a big fear among the villagers that food and money will be in shortage, so we should keep a ready stock and take out money from banks,” Mr. Pandher, 50, said.
There are no signs yet that either country is ready to de-escalate.
When India announced on Wednesday that it had conducted airstrikes on Pakistan and hit nine sites that it identified as “terrorist infrastructure,” officials called the move “non-escalatory,” leaving many expecting things to calm down — perhaps after some angry rhetoric from both sides.
Indian officials said several times, however, that the response would be “proportionate,” implying that any escalation would be met with escalation.
Some analysts said India was in a bit of a bind. Abhinav Pandya, the founder of Usanas Foundation, an India-based foreign policy organization, said he expected the conflict to escalate in its current form, with both sides using drones.
Any escalation beyond that would most likely involve moving ground forces, Mr. Pandya said, and that would be “a very risky situation,” introducing the likelihood of many more casualties.
Pakistan’s military officials, in a news conference, projected a defiant stance that suggested the escalations were not ending anytime soon. “They sent in their drone; they are getting a befitting response,” said Lt. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Pakistan Army’s chief spokesman. “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.”
On Friday, the Indian military said it was mobilizing thousands of soldiers with its volunteer reserve force to support military operations.
Both countries have suspended or moved their cash-rich cricket leagues out of safety concerns. The Indian Premier League, one of the world’s richest sports competitions with 10 franchises valued about $1 billion each, said it had suspended matches for a week. The Pakistan Super League said it was moving the remaining eight games of its season to the United Arab Emirates.
India and Pakistan, which became separate countries in 1947, have fought three wars, with disputes over Kashmir a part of each one. One of those, in December 1971, established the so-called Line of Control that divides Kashmir.
The escalating tensions have had people on edge.
“I have been stocking up on rations like rice and lentils and flour,” said Ajay Sharma, a physiotherapist in Jaipur, Rajasthan state, which shares a border with Pakistan.
Mr. Sharma said he had also withdrawn cash from banks. “Although we have full faith in our army, one cannot predict what will happen, given the circumstances,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Mujib Mashal, Hari Kumar, Suhasini Raj, Pragati K.B., Lara Jakes, Showkat Nanda and Zia ur-Rehman.
Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in New Delhi.
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