At least nine people were killed and seven others wounded yesterday in cross-border fire which hit a Pakistani bus in disputed Kashmir, officials said, in the latest deadly skirmish between India and Pakistan.
The incident came a day after India said three of its troops had been killed by Pakistani troops and threatened “retribution,” a claim that was angrily rejected by Pakistan.
Yesterday’s violence took place in Nagdar village in Pakistani-held Kashmir’s scenic Neelum Valley.
Local administration official Sardar Waheed said firing was continuing, preventing ambulances from reaching the scene.
“Indian troops targeted a civil bus near LoC [the Line of Control] in Neelam [sic] Valley,” the military said in an e-mailed statement.
In a separate statement it said that “intense firing” was ongoing.
“The death toll in the bus firing is nine now,” Neelum Valley Police Chief Jamil Mir said.
“At least nine people have been killed and seven others wounded,” Pakistani Kashmir Legislative Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir told a news conference in Muzaffarabad.
He accused India of “deliberately targeting” civilians.
On Tuesday, the Indian army accused Pakistan of sending troops across the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides Kashmir, and killing three of its troops, adding that one of the bodies had been “mutilated,” but Pakistan angrily rejected the claim in a series of tweets from a Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman late on Tuesday, calling it “baseless” and a “fabrication.”
Tensions in the long-disputed Himalayan region reached dangerous levels in September after India blamed Pakistani militants for a raid on an army base that killed 19 troops.
India said it had responded by carrying out “surgical strikes” across the heavily militarized border, sparking a furious reaction from Islamabad, which denied the strikes took place.
There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries, including of civilians.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.
Several rebel groups have for decades fought Indian troops for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese