Tensions between India and Pakistan rose sharply after Pakistan launched an attack on Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday (10 May), following days of growing cross-border hostilities by Islamabad.

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Pakistan claimed that its airbases, including Nur Khan in Rawalpindi, Murid in Chakwal, and Rafiqui in Shorkot, Jhang, were targeted in a missile attack.

The latest aggression follows Pakistan’s repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the International Border. For two nights in a row, Pakistan has fired across Indian territory and sent drones into sensitive areas.

India had earlier launched Operation Sindoor, a high-precision strike that targeted nine terror camps located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

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With both countries now on high alert, concerns are rising. An all-out war between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed, would mark a dangerous first.

Also read: Indo-Pak War: Can Pakistan use F-16s against India? Here’s what the rules say

How many nuclear weapons do India and Pakistan have?

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According to the Federation of American Scientists, India’s nuclear arsenal slightly outnumbers Pakistan’s. As of January 2025, India had around 180 stored nuclear warheads, compared to Pakistan’s 170.

Globally, nine countries collectively hold around 12,331 nuclear warheads. Exact figures remain uncertain because most nuclear-armed nations keep their stockpiles secret.

What could an India-Pakistan nuclear war look like?

While the chances of war remain low, experts warn that a miscalculation could quickly turn a conventional conflict into a nuclear disaster. Recently declassified US intelligence documents from the 1980s and 1990s revealed that India could consider striking Pakistan’s nuclear facilities if it felt seriously threatened.

Also read: Indo-Pak war: What is the Fatah-II missile? Pakistan’s precision missile reportedly shot down by India

A joint study by the University of Colorado Boulder and Rutgers University outlined a grim scenario if a nuclear war broke out. It estimated that India and Pakistan could unleash about 250 nuclear warheads on each other’s cities, causing immediate deaths of at least 700,000 people.

But the devastation would not end there. Fires triggered by the blasts would inject around 80 billion pounds of black smoke into the Earth’s atmosphere, blocking sunlight and causing a severe drop in temperatures similar to conditions during the last Ice Age.

The nuclear conflict could kill between 50 to 125 million people within a week, making it deadlier than the entirety of World War II, and plunging the planet into a global climate catastrophe.

Also read: 'Will go hungry, but get the bomb’: How Pakistan got its first nuclear bomb? A story of desperation, fear, and rivalry with India