Latest news with #Kotli
Times
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
‘People are dying, we are not safe': Britons in Kashmir beg to leave
British families stranded in Kashmir have begged to be evacuated from a 'holiday turned nightmare' as Pakistan and India exchange heavy gunfire. Khola Riaz, who lives in Luton, travelled last month to Kotli, a mountainous town in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with her four-year-old son, Esa, to visit her unwell father. But within a week, her parents' hometown had become the centre of a military standoff between the two nuclear-armed states. Several British families in Kotli, which straddles the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, have said they were forced into a lockdown as at least five civilians were killed in an intense night of artillery exchanges. • India-Pakistan live: nations strike airbases and move closer to war 'The bombing
LBCI
09-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Pakistan police say four civilians killed by Indian shelling
Four civilians were killed in Indian shelling overnight in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, police said Friday, after days of exchanges between the nuclear-armed neighbors. "Indian forces shelled civilian areas... resulting in the deaths of four people, including a two-year-old girl and injuring twelve others," police official Adeel Khan, based in Kotli district, told the AFP, adding that the shelling continued late into the night. The deaths were confirmed by a senior government official based in Muzaffarabad. AFP
Arab News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Silent streets, shuttered shops: Fear grips Kotli after India strikes in Azad Kashmir
KOTLI, Azad Kashmir: A convoy of journalists escorted by the Pakistani military and officials traveled through the scenic but tense roads of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) this week, arriving in the afternoon in Kotli, where an Indian strike on a mosque on Wednesday early morning had killed two people. The usually bustling city stood silent, its shops shuttered, roads empty and anxious residents watching from a distance. Amid the most intense military flare-up between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in decades, New Delhi said it had struck nine 'terrorist infrastructure' sites in Pakistan and AJK early Wednesday. AJK is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley administered by Pakistan while Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India. India described Wednesday's strikes as retaliation for an April 22 attack in its part of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Delhi attributed that attack to Pakistan, a claim Islamabad has repeatedly denied. Pakistani authorities said six locations were hit across the country during Indian strikes, resulting in 31 deaths and 57 injuries. The Pakistan army spokesperson said the military responded by downing five Indian aircraft. 'It [the attack] happened after 12:30 a.m. on [Wednesday], when people were asleep and were jolted awake by the sound of the blasts,' Dawood Ahmed, a local resident, told Arab News near the mosque in Kotli that was hit by Indian strikes. 'It happened so suddenly, and people were so terrified that they rushed out of their homes with their children ... We thought a major attack had occurred and that Kotli had been surrounded.' Ahmed said the Nakial sector on the Line of Control (LoC), the restive de facto border separating the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir, was about 22 kilometers from the area. 'So, we are not used to regular firing or skirmishes,' he added. 'This was something entirely new for us.' Asked about the Indian claim that it had targeted a militant facility, Ahmed said the building was just a mosque. No one lived there and it was occupied only when the imam came to lead prayers. Arab News could not independently verify this. 'PLACE OF WORSHIP' Nasir Rafiq, the area's deputy commissioner, said a house located next to the mosque was also hit by the Indian strikes. 'Two people, a 19-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, both siblings, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured including a woman and her son,' he told Arab News, standing in front of the destroyed house and mosque. He said the siblings, both students, had come from the nearby Nakial town. The elder sister was attending university and the younger brother was in school. As the media delegation remained at the site, more residents gathered, listening closely to the conversations between journalists and locals. Dr. Mazhar Iqbal Tahir, head of a local hospital, said the blast was so massive that staff couldn't immediately understand what had happened. 'We immediately imposed emergency [at the hospital] and called all doctors and health care professionals,' he told Arab News. Tahir said the hospital treated the injured, but both siblings had died before they were brought in. Umar Farooq, a local university professor, said Kotli was one of the most populated cities in AJK and far from the LoC, questioning how India could have bombed such a place. 'There is no military target here, there is no paramilitary target here, and this is the question that I am raising,' he told Arab News. 'Just take a look around,' he said, gesturing toward the mosque. 'This is a place of worship. India is the signatory of the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian agreements. Still they have done this to us.'
Mint
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Operation Sindoor: Not just 9, but there are 21 ‘well-known' terror camps in Pakistan, PoK; govt shares full list
The Indian government and the armed forces shared a list of 21 "well-known training camps" located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in a press briefing on Wednesday. "Over the last three decades, Pakistan has systematically built terror infrastructure. It is a complex web of recruitment and indoctrination centres, training areas for initial and refresher courses and launchpads for handlers," the Indian armed forces said. The Ministry of Defence earlier confirmed that nine terror camps were targeted in a mission that has been code-named "Operation Sindoor". Later, the officials shared 21 "well-known training camps" distributed from Sawai Nala in the North to Bahawalpur in the South. Nine of these terror camps were targeted under Operation Sindoor -- which was launched by the Indian armed forces and lasted 25 minutes. Sawai Nala Syed Na Bilal Maskar-E-Aqsa Chelabandi Abdullah Bin Masood Dulai Garhi Habibullah Batrasi Balakot Oghi Boi Sensa Gulpur Kotli Barali Dungi Barnala Mehmoona Joya Sarjal Muridke Bahawalpur Operation Sindoor: Here is the list of nine terror facility locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that were successfully neutralised: 1. Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur - JeM 2. Markaz Taiba, Muridke - LeT 3. Sarjal, Tehra Kalan - JeM 4. Mehmoona Joya, Sialkot - HM 5. Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala - LeT 6. Markaz Abbas, Kotli - JeM 7. Maskar Raheel Shahid, Kotli - HM 8. Shawai Nalla Camp, Muzaffarabad - LeT 9. Syedna Bilal Camp, Muzaffarabad - JeM
Times of Oman
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
Pakistan Army confirms India missile strikes in its territory, scramble jets in response
Islamabad: Pakistan's military on Wednesday confirmed that Indian missile strikes hit three locations inside Pakistani territory - Muzaffarabad, Kotli, and the Ahmed East area of Bahawalpur, the Express Tribune reported. According to Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the strikes caused the martyrdom of one child, while a man and a woman sustained serious injuries. During a late-night press briefing, DG ISPR stated, "Some time ago from now, the cowardly enemy India launched air strikes on Subhanullah mosque in Bahwalpur's Ahmed East area, Kotli and Muzaffarabad at three places from the air." He confirmed that the Pakistan Air Force had scrambled jets in response. "All of our air force jets are airborne. This cowardly and shameful attack was carried out from within India's airspace. They were never allowed to come and intrude into the space of Pakistan." Lt Gen Chaudhry added that Pakistan's response would come at its discretion. "Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing." He stated that damage assessments were underway and further updates would be provided when confirmed. Local reports from Muzaffarabad noted a complete blackout following the blasts, as reported by the Express Tribune. Amid the developments, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that a clash with India is now "inevitable" and could occur "at any moment." The strikes come after weeks of heightened tension following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists. India's Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Indian Armed Forces had launched "Operation Sindoor," targeting nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. "A little while ago, the Indian Armed Forces launched 'OPERATION SINDOOR', hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the ministry said. According to the statement, nine sites were targeted. "Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution," it said. The ministry added that the operation was launched in response to the "barbaric" terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen. "There will be a detailed briefing on 'OPERATION SINDOOR', later today," the ministry said. Meanwhile, the Indian Army posted on X: "Justice is served. Jai Hind!"
