WASHINGTON, Dec 30: US Senator John McCain has warned that India is on the verge of carrying out an air raid on alleged terrorist camps inside Pakistan.

In an interview to a newspaper in his home state of Arizona, the former Republican presidential candidate said he had “deep concerns” over tensions between South Asia’s two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan.

Mr McCain, who visited both countries earlier this month, warned that he felt India was preparing for some kind of attack on Pakistan in the wake of last month’s Mumbai attacks. He said escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan had him worried, too.

“The Indians are on the verge of some kind of attack on Pakistan”, such as an air attack on terrorist camps, he told The Daily Courier. And India’s government was feeling more and more pressure from the public to take action after the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, he said.

“I think it’s a very dicey situation,” he said, noting how both countries had nuclear weapons. “We’re going to be in for a very difficult time there.”

The senator also denounced the escalation of Israeli violence in the Gaza Strip, but added that he had seen Israel’s residents running to shelters to escape border violence, too.

“If we were being shelled from across our border, the American people would have demanded action,” he said.