The US government said it offered assistance to make India and Pakistan start "constructive talks" while the Group of Seven (G7) major countries also urged the Asian neighbors to engage in direct dialogue amid heightened hostilities.
World powers have raised the alarm over the latest escalation in the decades-old India-Pakistan rivalry. India hit Pakistan with air strikes and missiles on Wednesday, and since then, the nuclear-armed countries have been clashing daily while launching strikes against each other's military installations on Saturday. Dozens have been killed.
The US, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has held regular talks with both India and Pakistan since late April and urged them to de-escalate.