India, Pakistan exchange gunfire for 2nd day as ties plummet after attack
Indian citizen Zakiya Firdous breaks down as she bids goodbye to her recently married husband and a Pakistan citizen, Sahibzada Munadi Ahmad, as he prepares to leave India after India revoked all visas issued to Pakistani citizens, at the Attari-Wagah border crossing near Amritsar, India, April 25, 2025. India has cancelled visa services to Pakistani nationals \"with immediate effect\" following Tuesday's attack on tourists near south Kashmir's Pahalgam. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
A woman holds an electric candle as she takes part in a solidarity walk condemning a suspected militant attack on tourists near south Kashmir's scenic Pahalgam, in Kolkata, India April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Indian security force personnel patrol in a boat in the waters of Dal Lake as tourists ride \"Shikaras\" or boats, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Border Security Force (BSF) security personnel stand guard at the Attari-Wagah crossing on the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar, following Tuesday's attack on tourists near south Kashmir's scenic Pahalgam, India, April 25, 2025. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar
SRINAGAR - Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire for a second straight day on April 26 as ties plummeted between the two nuclear-armed neighbours after an attack on tourists blamed on Pakistani militants killed 26 in India's Kashmir region.
The Indian Army said its troops responded to 'unprovoked' small arms fire from multiple Pakistan Army posts that started around midnight on April 25 along the 740km de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir.
The Indian Army said Pakistani troops had also opened up with sporadic fire around midnight on April 24. No casualties were reported from the Indian side, it said.
There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military.
Kashmir's police have identified three suspects, including two Pakistani nationals, who carried out the April 22 attack. Pakistan has denied any involvement and its defence minister has said an international investigation was needed into the attack.
After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines, and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries.
India and Pakistan have a decades-old ceasefire agreement over the disputed region of Kashmir but their troops still exchange gunfire sporadically. The two nations both claim Kashmir and have fought two of their three wars over it. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
an hour ago
- AsiaOne
Zelenskiy denounces Russian attack on historic Kyiv cathedral, World News
KYIV — A Russian attack overnight damaged St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv's historic centre, one of Ukraine's most cherished monuments, an action denounced by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as "unacceptable and catastrophic." Zelenskiy said the attack caused part of the facade to collapse on the 11th-century cathedral, a designated Unesco World Heritage Site. "For all people who truly know history and are not strangers to Christianity, even the threat of damage to or the destruction of St Sophia is an absolutely unacceptable thing, catastrophic," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "But not for Russia. Mad with Shaheds (Iranian-designed drones) and the red button. And catastrophes are precisely the meaning of their existence. They produce nothing and will leave nothing else behind." Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said Russia had "struck at the very heart of our identity again," calling the cathedral "the soul of all Ukraine." Tochytskyi said a blast wave damaged the cornice on the main apse of the landmark. Pieces of white plaster crumbled to the ground with a gap visible in a section of the cornice, Reuters video from the scene showed. This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged, first deputy director general of the site Vadym Kyrylenko told reporters. Russian drones flying close to the ground present a threat amid continuous air attacks on the capital. "As our security guards say, sometimes (drones) almost touch the crosses on the bell tower 76 metres above the ground," he said. The cathedral was added to Unesco's World Heritage list in 1990 for its architectural importance. The United Nations' cultural body describes the white cathedral and monastery complex with green roofs and golden domes as a symbol of the "new Constantinople" created in the region. Kyrylenko reported no critical damage and said the site will be inspected by a specialised institute and repaired. More than a year after Russia's invasion in February 2022, Unesco's World Heritage Committee placed the cathedral on the list of World Heritage in Danger "due to the threat of destruction the Russian offensive poses" to the monument and integrity of its ancient interiors, mosaics and frescoes. The site was also vulnerable to shockwaves, it said. "It is not only protected by our state, it is protected by the whole world. It is the heritage of the whole world," Kyrylenko said. [[nid:718946]]
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv kills 2, injures 54, Ukraine says
A firefighter works at the site of a building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout released on June 11, 2025. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE IN THE KHARKIV REGION/Handout via REUTERS A firefighter works at the site of a building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout released on June 11, 2025. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE IN THE KHARKIV REGION/Handout via REUTERS Firefighters work at a site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout released on June 11, 2025. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE IN THE KHARKIV REGION/Handout via REUTERS Flames rise from a building following a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout released on June 11, 2025. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE IN THE KHARKIV REGION/Handout via REUTERS KHARKIV - A nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed at least two people and injured 54, including five children, regional officials said on Wednesday. The intense strikes with 17 drones sparked fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused other damage in the city close to the Russian border, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. "There are direct hits on multi-storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport," Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app. "Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken." A Reuters witness saw emergency rescuers helping to carry people out of damaged buildings, administering care and firefighters battling blazes in the dark. Nine of the injured, including a 2-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalised, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on Telegram. He added that the strikes hit also a city trolley bus depot and several residential buildings. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, withstood Russian full-scale advance in the early days of the war and has since been a frequent target of drone, missile, and guided aerial bomb assaults. The attack followed Russia's two biggest assaults of the war on Ukraine this week, a part of intensified bombardments that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent attacks in Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbour in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. "We are holding on. We are helping each other. And we will definitely survive," Terekhov said. "Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
an hour ago
- AsiaOne
Taiwan indicts 4 suspected spies for China in case reaching presidential office, Asia News
TAIPEI — Taipei prosecutors indicted four people on Tuesday (June 10) suspected of spying for China in a case that reached Taiwan's presidential office, seeking jail terms of more than 18 years. Democratically-governed Taiwan says it has faced heightened military and political pressure over the past five years or so from Beijing, which views the island as sovereign Chinese territory, a position Taipei's government rejects. In a statement, Taipei prosecutors said the four, all previously members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, had been indicted on espionage and other charges. One of them was a former assistant to then foreign minister Joseph Wu, now head of the National Security Council, while another was a former presidential office adviser, sources familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters. The Taipei prosecutors said in a statement that their suspected crimes included divulging or delivering classified national security information to China. Jail sentences of 18 years or more are being sought, the statement added. Reuters was not able to immediately locate contact details for legal representatives of any of those indicted. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment. Last week, Taiwan's presidential office said it could not comment on the cases given the ongoing legal proceedings. But it said that any person, regardless of party affiliation, who has "betrayed the country, collaborated with hostile external forces and committed crimes that hurt the whole nation" should be subject to the most severe punishment. [[nid:718762]]
