Turkey's strongman leader President Recip Tayyip Erdogan has waded into the feared war between Pakistan and India by pledging his support for fellow Muslim nation Pakistan. Mr Erdogan shared a high stakes call with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to convey his solidarity after India launched a series of missile attacks on Wednesday.

Mr Erdogan's intervention was to prevent "tensions escalating", according to his office, and comes as other world leaders have called for restraint. Earlier US President Donald Trump said he wanted to "see them stop" when asked what his position was on the conflict. And in the UK, Sir Keir Starmer called for calm at Prime Minister's Questions, adding "Rising tensions between India and Pakistan will be of serious concern for many across Britain."

have put the world on high alert for potential atomic armageddon after fighting broke out between the two sides. Islamabad has vowed revenge for Indian missile attacks which the latter has claimed were targeted on terror groups it blames for the April 22 murder of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Since Wednesday night's fighting broke out Pakistan said at least 31 people have been killed and 57 injured. Indian sources said at least 15 civilians have been killed by Pakistani shelling in regions close to the border.

Sky News defence and security analyst Michael Clarke said it the existence of either nation is threatening by the blossoming conflict then any nuclear retaliation would be "instant". He said: "There's no doubt what will happen if a nuclear device is used. It would be instant if a nuclear weapon were used... the other side wouldn't know about it until it went off. But the decision makers on both sides of the border tend to get nervous that the other side might have taken leave of its senses, use a nuclear weapon, just to demonstrate it. And we won't know anything about it until it goes off, and then it will be too late."

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