Pakistan’s defense minister warned Monday that a military incursion by neighboring India could be imminent following last week’s deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir, escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Asif said that India’s rhetoric was intensifying and that Pakistan’s military had briefed the government on the possibility of an imminent Indian attack.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department via email on Monday afternoon for comment.

Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard at a market area in Srinagar on April 28, 2025. Indian and Pakistan soldiers exchanged gunfire in disputed Kashmir for a fourth night in a row, New Delhi’s army said… Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard at a market area in Srinagar on April 28, 2025. Indian and Pakistan soldiers exchanged gunfire in disputed Kashmir for a fourth night in a row, New Delhi’s army said on April 28, the latest violence as relations between the rival nuclear-armed powers fray. AFP/Getty Images

Last week’s attack, which left 26 people dead, sparked outrage in Hindu-majority India and fueled calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India has long accused Pakistan of supporting militancy in Kashmir, a disputed region the two countries have fought two wars over.

“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So, in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.

Asif added that Pakistan was on high alert and emphasized that the country would only consider using its nuclear arsenal in response to “a direct threat to our existence.”

He did not elaborate on why he believed an incursion was likely.

Following the attack in Kashmir, India identified two suspected militants as Pakistani nationals, an accusation Islamabad has firmly denied, instead calling for a neutral investigation.

On Sunday, Pakistani security forces killed 54 militants overnight who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said, marking one of the deadliest border clashes in recent years.

In a statement, the military said intelligence indicated the militants were “Khwarij,” a term the government uses to describe the Pakistani Taliban. While the military did not explicitly blame any group or nation, it alleged the insurgents had been dispatched by their “foreign masters” to carry out high-profile attacks inside Pakistan.

The confrontation occurred near North Waziristan, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, along the volatile Afghan border.

This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is available.

Update: 4/28/25, 12:01 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.