U.S., U.K. urge citizens to leave

Indian soldiers wait for deployment in Srinagar

(CNN) – The U.S. and British governments have both increased their travel warnings for India and Pakistan urging their citizens to leave the two countries.

The new warning updates and strengthens existing advisories issued over the past few weeks, which urged citizens to "consider leaving".

"Tensions between India and Pakistan remain at serious levels and the risk of intensified military hostilities cannot be ruled out," the updated warning from the U.S. State Department said.

The warning was echoed by officials at the British Embassy in Islamabad.

"In light of increased tension and increased risk of conflict with India, the British Government advises against all travel to Pakistan," said Rachel Jamieson, a British High Commission spokeswoman.

"The British Government further advises that all British nationals currently in Pakistan should leave."

A similarly worded statement appeared on the commission's Web site regarding British citizens in India.

In Washington State Department an official told CNN one of the reasons for increasing the urgency of the appeal for Americans to leave India and Pakistan is that few Americans have left under the previous warnings.

The official said the warning was issued in coordination with British embassies in the region.

"It lends stronger backing to the idea," the official said. "We are both trying to do the same thing and hopefully will make people think harder about leaving."

About 60,000 Americans are in India and approximately 8,000 are in Pakistan, according to the State Department.

Last Friday the State Department authorized the departure of non-essential U.S. personnel from India, as well as the families of U.S. diplomats abroad, and the new travel warning says the State Department has "strongly encouraged" employees and their families to leave.

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan in March ordered the departure of all non-emergency personnel and their dependents after the bombing of a church in Islamabad that killed two Americans.

For the past week or so, officials with the U.S. Central Command have been working with the U.S. embassies in India and Pakistan in evaluating evacuation plans that would involve the removal of U.S. citizens through commercial aircraft and chartered aircraft and boats, should a full-fledged war break out between the two nations.

-- CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott and CNN Correspondent Chris Burns in Islamabad contributed to this report