Missile near-miss rocks fleeing Aussies as India-Pakistan war escalates
A handful of Australian cricketers have narrowly avoided a targeted missile strike as the war between India and Pakistan escalates.
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Australian cricket stars have narrowly avoided a missile strike in Pakistan as they were fleeing the country.
A host of Aussie cricketers boarded a flight out of Islamabad with the charter flight heading for Dubai.
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Hours after the flight took off however, India launched missile strikes on three Pakistani air bases. of the bases targeted, Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, the garrison city where the army is headquartered, is around 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the capital Islamabad where the Aussies had departed.
Queensland batsman Max Bryant was on board the flight out with the 26-year-old only learning of the terrifying near-miss after touching down in Dubai.
“We landed (in Dubai) and Riley Meredith called up his phone and said “this cannot be true’’ and the whole plane went “Holy crap,’’ Bryant told The Daily Telegraph.
Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Ashton Turner and Mitch Owen were some of the players who were also reportedly on board the flights that came perilously close to missiles.
The rising conflict between India and Pakistan has impacted a host of Aussie cricketers with the Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League both suspended.
Indian board chiefs reportedly met on Friday and chose to “indefinitely postpone” the world’s largest and most lucrative tournament as tensions erupted following a terrorist attack in Kashmir.
The IPL’s decision comes after a match between Delhi and Punjab was cancelled on Thursday night due to a blackout stemming from air raid warnings in nearby Jammu and Pathankot.
It’s understood the overwhelming majority of Australian officials and players have either already departed the countries or have booked flights home.
PAKISTAN RETALIATES IN SPIRALLING CONFLICT
While several Aussies were counting their lucky stars after narrowly avoiding finding themselves in the thick of the escalating war, Pakistan launched counter-attacks against India as the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours spiralled toward full-blown war.
The South Asian countries have exchanged fire since Wednesday, when India carried out air strikes on sites in Pakistani territory over a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of the divided Kashmir region.
The clashes - which have involved missiles, drones, and exchanges of fire along the de-facto border in disputed Kashmir - are the worst in decades and have killed more than 50 civilians.
India accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba - a UN-designated terrorist organisation - of carrying out the attack but Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.
The countries have fought several wars over the Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.
Previous clashes have been mostly limited to the Kashmir region, separated by a heavily militarised border known as the Line of Control, but this time India has struck multiple cities deep in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry alleged New Delhi’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top security officials on Friday, including his national security advisor, defence minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.
Most of the fatalities, which included children, were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s first air strikes by India.
- with AFP
Originally published as Missile near-miss rocks fleeing Aussies as India-Pakistan war escalates
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