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India, Pakistan exchange gunfire for 2nd day as ties plummet after attack

India, Pakistan exchange gunfire for 2nd day as ties plummet after attack

Straits Times26-04-2025

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
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