Pakistan says three air bases targeted by Indian missiles

Pakistan said India fired missiles at three air bases early on Saturday including one close to the capital, Islamabad, but Pakistani air defences intercepted most of them as the neighbours extended their worst fighting in nearly three decades.

Locked in a longstanding dispute over Kashmir, the two countries have engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday when India launched strikes inside Pakistan on what it called militant bases. Pakistan vowed to retaliate.

"India, through its planes, launched air to surface missiles... Nur Khan base, Mureed base, and Shorkot base were made targets," Pakistan military spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a late-night televised statement.

One of the air bases is in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which is just outside the capital Islamabad, and the other two are in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, which neighbours India.

The Pakistani military spokesman said only a few missiles made it past air defences, and those did not hit any "air assets," according to initial damage assessments.

India's defence and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

India said its strikes on Wednesday were retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.

Pakistan denied India's accusations that it was involved in the tourist attack. Since Wednesday, the two countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling, and they have sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace.

Much of the fighting on Friday was in Indian Kashmir and neighbouring Indian states. India said it shot down Pakistani drones.

At least 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified.