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ISLAMABAD (AP) — India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on Saturday after US-led talks to end the most serious military conflict between nuclear-armed rivals in decades.
The deal was expected to quickly end weeks of escalating clashes, including missile and drone strikes last month caused by a massacre of tourists by gunmen whom India blames Pakistan. Dozens of civilians have been killed on both sides since then.
The first words of the truce came from US President Donald Trump, who posted on his true social platform that India and Pakistan agreed to a complete and immediate ceasefire.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishak Dal announced the GEO News ceasefire, saying that Saudi Arabia and Turkey played an important role in fostering trade.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Mithri said the head of military activities in both countries spoke on Saturday afternoon.
“It has been agreed between them that both sides will stop all fire and military action on the land, as well as on the air and on the sea. Instructions are given to both sides to influence this understanding,” the top military leader will speak again on Monday, Mithri added.
Several explosions were heard in two major Indian-controlled Kashmir cities a few hours after the country agreed to a ceasefire. Residents said loud explosions in Srinagar and Jammu continued to have blackouts in two cities.
Omar Abdullah, an elected official in the region, said in a social media post:
Also, cross-border artillery and shootings were reported from at least five locations along the line of control. This is the de facto frontier that divides conflicted Kashmir into two nuclear-armed states.
No immediate reports of victims were found.
We are working towards a broader agreement
The conflict between India and Pakistan is not rare, and since Britain’s independence from India in 1947, the two countries have regularly engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes.
The latest hostilities ceasefire has said India targeted air force bases in Pakistan after the country fired volleys of missile attacks across the border on Saturday, and then India launched several high-speed missiles on military and civilian infrastructure in Punjab. Pakistan said it responded with a retaliatory strike.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he and Vice President JD Vance have worked with senior officials from both countries over the past 48 hours. They included Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif, Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munier.
Rubio said the two governments agreed to “open consultations on a wide range of issues at neutral sites.”
The Pakistanis initially celebrated the retaliation of the Army, but later rejoiced at the armistice, saying it was a moment of pride and relief for the people a few days after tensions.
In Islamabad, Zubai Dhabibi expressed his joy in restoring peace with India.
“War only brings suffering,” she said. “I’m happy to be calm and come back. It feels like Eid to me. We won.”
India’s strike hits air bases in Pakistan
Tensions have skyrocketed as the attacks in India-controlled popular tourist destinations in Kashmir killed 26 civilians, mostly Indian tourists, on April 22.
Earlier on Saturday, Indian forces held a news briefing in New Delhi, saying Pakistan had targeted medical facilities and schools at three air bases in Kashmir.
“We have given a response worthy of Pakistan’s actions,” Indian Colonel Sofia Kureshi said.
The Indian missiles targeted Islamabad’s capital, Murid Air Force Base in Chakwar city, and Nur Khan Air Force Base in Rawalpindi’s rison area near Rafiki Air Force Base in Jan district in eastern Punjab, according to a Pakistani military spokesman.
There were no immediate reports of strikes or aftermath from the populous residents of Rawalpindi.
Pakistani forces said they used medium-range Fate missiles to attack Indian missile storage facilities and air force bases in the cities of Patankot and Udhanpur. Army spokesman General Ahmad Sharif said the country’s air force assets were safe after India’s attack.
The Associated Press was unable to independently examine all actions arising from Pakistan or India.
Explosions in India-controlled Kashmir
After the announcement of Pakistan’s retaliation, residents of India-controlled Kashmir said they had heard of the major explosions in multiple locations, including the metropolitan cities of Srinagar and Jammu and the garrison town of Udhampur.
“The explosion we hear today is different from what we heard about our last two nights during the drone attack,” said Sish Paul Beid, a former police officer in the area and Jammu resident. “It looks like a war here.”
Vaid added that the explosion has been heard from the area where the military base is located, and the Army location appears to be targeted. Residents who also live near the airport in Srinagar, an air force base, said they were rattled by the explosion and booming jets.
“I was already awake, but the explosion forced my children out of their sleep. They began to cry,” said Mohamed Yasin, a resident of Srinagar.
Buildings have been destroyed or damaged in India-controlled Kashmir. In Kashmir, powerful explosions were torn from the roofs, windows and walls, covering houses filled with holes.
Villagers and rescuers in Pakistan district sifted through tile bleeds of tiles at home that was attacked by Indian artillery fire on Friday as people carried the deaths. Others have investigated the ruins.
Omar Abdullah, an elected official in Kashmir, controlled by India, welcomed the ceasefire. But he said if it had happened a few days ago, “we might have avoided bloodshed and the loss of precious life.”
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Hussein reported from Srinagar, India, and Roy reported from New Delhi. Author of Associated Press in New Delhi Sheikh Sarik, Babar Dogah of Lahore, Pakistan, Asim Tanbear of Multan, Pakistan, Munier Ahmed of Islamabad and Rias Khan of Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to the report.
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