A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill over a hundred million people and affect billions more around the world, experts have warned. Tensions between the two nations are threatening to boil over after India launched a lethal missile barrage on Pakistan early on Wednesday.

Pakistan claims that as many as 26 people were killed in the bombardment and 46 were injured. New Delhi says the strike was in retaliation for a deadly militant attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam last month, which they claim involved Pakistan-based terrorists.

An academic study published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists claimed that tens of millions of people would die "immediately" in the event of a nuclear war between the two neighbours.

Moreover, huge plumes of radioactive dust would disperse around the globe, causing famines that would potentially affect billions of people.

It is estimated that Pakistan and India possess just under 350 nuclear weapons between them.

One think tank suggests Pakistan has 170 warheads while India has 172. Some analyses indicate Pakistan could have more, around 200.

Researchers from the Department of Environmental Sciences at the US Rutgers University carried out an analysis in 2019 of the likely consequences of a nuclear war on the Indian subcontinent.

Their findings make for grim reading, as they predicted that some 125 million people would die in the initial stages of a nuclear war.

Furthermore, 16 million tonnes of radioactive soot would spread around the world in a matter of weeks, reducing sunlight and cooling down temperatures by as much as two to five degrees.

This would likely adversely affect farming, potentially causing famines around the globe, affecting billions of people.

The scientists believe it could take up to ten years for things to return to normal after the nuclear fallout.

Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University who co-authored the study, said at the time: "“Such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world.”

India said it launched missile strikes on nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan said six locations were attacked and claimed to have shot down five Indian fighter jets.